The Broken Bridge
by Aenthir
Summary: Mass Effect/Atlantis/SG-1. The ME galaxy is under siege by the Reapers, and the asari have discovered that the ancient artifact they've kept hidden away for centuries is a gateway that predates the Protheans. Will the gateway lead to new allies or more enemies for the already beleaguered Citadel races? Femshep/Liara, Garrus/Tali, Daniel J./?, Carter, Sheppard/Weir, McKay and more!
1. Chapter 1

**Update 11/27/2015:** After some mixed feedback, I've gone back to the drawing board a bit on this. I've completely rewritten Chapter 5 which detailed "Operation Firebrand." I'm taking things in a completely different direction than originally planned, so let me know what you think. Chapter 5 skips a lot of content but I promise it will all come back around.

In the ME **timeline** the story takes place during ME3. In Stargate, it takes place around season 5 of Atlantis.

* * *

**The Broken Bridge**

**Chapter One**

2186 C.E. - Thessia

Cerine Asil was troubled as she paced back and forth in the small, poorly lit room. She was a decorated commando, just assigned to lead her own squad a month ago. Now, they had taken more than half of her new team from her and sent them to serve as an escort for that pureblood scientist T'soni. Then they relegated her and the remainder of her commandos to guard the Lonican Artifact. That ridiculous relic was the cause of her misfortune. The Reapers were waging war across the galaxy, and she was assigned the job of a museum curator. While the Reapers had not yet reached Thessia, some of its colonies had not been so lucky. She should be out there on the battlefield not in one of the most secure facilities in the sector. The Lonican Artifact was held in a vault deep beneath the ground, where it had been stored for countless centuries, and suddenly Asari High Command decided it needed a guard. Cerine couldn't stand the thought of all that solid rock bearing down on her, and she hadn't seen the sun or had fresh air since her commander had ordered her down here three days ago.

She glanced down at her left arm as her omnitool lit up. "Finally," she muttered to herself and tapped on the omnitool to accept the incoming call.

"Lt. Asil, this is Captain Jaris. I got your message that you needed to speak with me."

"Yes, Captain. I wanted to discuss my assignment."

"Were your orders unclear, Lt. Asil?" Jaris asked. Cerine could easily picture the annoyed look she knew her commanding officer had on her face and stopped her pacing.

"No, Captain, they were quite clear, but…"

"Then explain the problem to me, because I'm not sure I see the issue," she cut Cerine off, a tinge of anger in her voice.

"Captain, this isn't where I belong. This artifact is a hundred feet underground. There is no threat here."

"Cerine, I gave you your own squad because I thought you were ready," she said, letting the statement hang there for a moment before continuing. "I'm coordinating ten commando squads spread across three different worlds at the moment. We lost three commandos on Kalus this morning. How much time do you think I have to waste on people questioning their orders?"

Cerine blanched. "Captain, I didn't mean…"

"Do your job, Lt. Jaris out."

She shook her head with a sigh and approached the artifact. It was highly classified, as she had only learned of its existence when she'd been assigned to guard it. Asari archaeologists had discovered it during a dig at Lonica, one of Thessia's greatest cities, three thousand years ago. Apparently, it predated even the Protheans, and they had no idea what it was, but the possibility that it could be a weapon could no longer be overlooked, not with the Reapers threatening asari space. The Council hoped that Liara T'soni could come in and figure out what the hell it was. Cerine certainly didn't think it looked like a weapon. It was a large metal ring, just over twenty feet in diameter, with a series of completely alien untranslatable symbols etched on the surface. If they asked her, she would say it was probably some ancient monument or altar to a long-forgotten god. Of course, they didn't ask her. They just told her to guard it. Whatever it was, it was a waste of her skills and time.

"Lt.?" One of her squad asked as she entered the room.

Cerine continued to stare at the ring.

The soldier cleared her throat. "Lt. Asil?"

Cerine turned and looked at her. She was so deep in her thoughts it took her a moment to realize who it was. "Yes, sorry, Sergeant Mileta. What is it?"

Mileta saluted. "We just got a message transmitted from topside. The squad has rendezvoused with Commander Shepard and Dr. T'soni. They should be here within the hour."

"The sooner the better," Cerine replied, and then gestured to the artifact. "This… thing has been in the archives for thousands of years, and suddenly it's a priority. Entire worlds fall while we guard a giant metal ring that seems to serve no purpose."

"Yes, Lt. Hopefully, once Dr. T'soni has examined the artifact, we'll be cleared to return to normal duty," Mileta said hopefully.

Cerine gave a half smile. "Hmm, well, I'm not sure I'd call fighting Reapers 'normal duty,' but I'll take it over this any day. We're warriors, Mileta. Warriors need a war."

"Can't argue this a safer place to be," Mileta countered.

Cerine shook her head. "No, I don't fear dying, just being useless or helpless. If safety is your preference, then you've chosen the wrong line of work."

"I think…" Mileta began then suddenly stopped speaking, her mouth agape. She slowly raised her arm and pointed to the ring.

Cerine arched her eyebrow and turned to look. Part of the metal ring had begun to spin. "By the goddess. What the hell?" She said and pulled her rifle from her back and approached the ring. "Mileta, put the squad on alert!"

Mileta was mesmerized by the spinning ring and didn't move.

"That's an order, Sgt.!" Cerine snapped.

Mileta's cheeks flushed, and she rushed out of the room.

The young asari commando watched as the large ring continued to spin, stopping every few seconds on certain symbols. There was a sudden loud whoosh as a great blast of blue energy shot out from the ring. Cerine stumbled, tripping over her feet as she tried to back away and landed with a thud on her back. She groaned, more from embarrassment than pain, as she pushed herself up on her elbows. A shimmering field of blue now filled the ring, casting a soft glow over the room. Her eyes widened when a body came flying from the energy field and slid and tumbled across the floor. Then the glow vanished as the field disappeared as quickly as it had come. She hopped to her feet and approached the body on the floor, her weapon trained on it, a biotic field forming around her free hand.

"Identify yourself!" she shouted. As she got closer she could see it was a human male in a uniform she didn't recognize, and he appeared to be seriously injured.

Cerine holstered her rifle on her back and dropped down to her knees beside him, activating her omnitool. She gently rolled him onto his back, drawing a groan from him. She cupped the side of his face, which was unusually warm, and turned his head towards her. His blue eyes regarded her with confusion, and he grimaced.

"Good. You feel pain, human," she said as she began to scan him. "That means you're alive. Who shot you?" He appeared to have several burns on his chest from an energy-based weapon. She grabbed the sidearm out of his holster and laid it behind her, then removed his combat vest and began to rip open his shirt to get better access to his wounds.

"Shot… no, fire," he muttered.

She ran her omnitool over the burns, dispensing medi-gel. She continued to scan, checking that the medi-gel was setting in properly. "Well, you won't die on me, but we'll need to get you to a doctor."

He tried to sit up but quickly fell back with a painful grimace and let out a huge breath.

She shook her head disapprovingly. "Tsk tsk. Don't rush it, human," she advised.

"Yeah, thanks," he grunted hoarsely.

"You are in a secure asari military facility. How did you get here and what is that?" She gestured to the ring. "Who are you?"

He looked at her, his brow furrowed. "I'm… I'm… you're blue. Sorry… Who are you?"

Cerine smiled, bemused. "Lt. Asil of Thessia and I am quite blue. You act like you've never seen an asari before. Perhaps, you hit your head?" She held her omnitool above his face and scanned.

"No, my head is fine." He gently pushed her arm away from his face. "My name is Daniel Jackson. From Earth. And I'm not sure where I am to be honest."

Mileta came rushing back in with two other commandos, their guns at the ready. "Lt.?" Mileta said uncertainly, training her rifle on the human.

Cerine motioned for them to lower their weapons. "It's alright, Mileta. Get a message to Shepard and Captain Jaris. Let them know we have a guest. Tell them… tell them he fell out of the ring. Nayta, go fetch some water. Kira, contact the base doctor," she said and looked back to Daniel.

Nayta and Kira rushed off to carry out her orders. Mileta hesitated again, not wanting to leave her commanding officer with their "guest," but she dared not have the Lt. yell at her again.

Cerine took Daniel's arm and helped him slowly sit up. "I've never seen an Alliance uniform like yours. Are you working with Shepard? What is that? How did you get here?" She pointed again to the ring.

Daniel's eyes narrowed. The rifle on her back, and black armor she wore certainly were unrecognizable to him, but she wasn't pointing the rifle at him, so that was a plus. However, he was certain if Sheppard had met a beautiful blue alien he would've heard about it from McKay in detail. "That's a lot of questions. You say you know Colonel Sheppard?"

Cerine nodded. "Yes, but I thought it was Commander. She'll be here soon."

He shook his head. "She? No, we must be talking about different Sheppards." The pain in his chest was starting to numb, so he began to climb to his feet. Cerine took his arm and assisted him. He walked towards the gate and then suddenly he remembered the fire that had forced him through the wormhole. "Sam," he said to himself. He turned back to her, concern evident in his voice. "Did anyone else come through the Stargate?"

"The what?"

"Stargate."

Cerine shrugged. "I don't…"

"That! The ring," Daniel said, trying to maintain his patience and pointed with both hands to the gate.

She frowned. "No, just you."

Daniel shut his eyes and took in a deep breath to calm himself. "Not good," he mumbled.

"I'm sorry," she said.

He pressed a hand to his forehead. "I have to… I have to get back. McKay really, really messed up this time, and he doesn't even know it. Where the hell am I?"

She approached him and rested a hand on his shoulder and extended her other hand to him.

Daniel studied the young woman for a moment and then clasped her hand.

"Daniel, my name is Cerine. I will do what I can to help you, but first, we need to get to know each other I think."

After recovering his glasses from a corner of the room, which fortunately had fared better on their trip through the gate than he had, Daniel stood before the gate. He took a drink from the canteen Cerine had given him as he studied the symbols. Cerine was in the corner, quietly talking into her omnitool, while the guard at the door watched him closely. The gate, which was marked with symbols as foreign to him as they were to the asari, was identical to the one that the Atlantis team had found only days before on a remote outpost in Pegasus. The symbols on it matched none he had ever seen on any gate or in any Ancient database. He had no clue what they meant, or how to use them to get back, and there was certainly no DHD in the immediate vicinity. Of course the one in Pegasus had not had a traditional DHD either but a computer console similar to the one on Atlantis.

"Daniel?" Cerine said after completing her call. She walked up beside him and stared at the gate. She crossed her arms, biting the tip of her tongue as she tried to make sense of it. After a few moments she finally spoke. "So… stargate?"

He nodded without looking at her. "Yes, it allows near instantaneous travel between two gates."

"I was given a quick briefing on the artifact when they assigned me to guard it. As far as the asari know, it's the only one in existence. Not just on our world, but anywhere."

"Well, I stepped through one just like it in the Pegasus galaxy, and now here I am. Wherever here is."

"I would say you fell through it rather than walked," she corrected.

Daniel chuckled. "Yeah, well that's not out of character for me."

"You're just lucky the other end of that gate was here. This is Thessia. Some call our world the shining star of Council Space. I would not disagree with them. So, consider yourself lucky."

"Council?"

Cerine stared at him quizzically then let out a sigh and waved it off. "Nevermind. We're in an area of the Milky Way that the humans call the Athena Nebula."

"Good to know I'm back at home in the Milky Way, even if it is a different one."

"Wherever you are from, these gates sound like a mass effect relay. It even resembles the rings from a relay, though considerably smaller." She tapped on her omnitool and brought up a holographic projection of a relay.

Daniel stared at the projection, and then he shrugged. "I've never seen one, so I'll take your word for it. I think it's safe to say this particular gate has taken me completely off the grid. Normally, that would be kind of exciting."

"Well, you met me. That'd make an exciting day for anyone, and it has certainly made my morning more interesting."

"Well, I have to admit that I've encountered much worse things when coming out of a stargate. If I have to be lost, I'll take charming blue alien over a Goa'uld death trap any day."

Cerine blushed. "Come on. The medic is going to check you out."

He gave the gate one last glance and then turned and followed Cerine out of the room. She led him down a short corridor to an elevator at the end. She stepped in and beckoned him in. Once inside she tapped on the console.

"So you're familiar with Earth?" He asked.

"I've never been, but I'm afraid it's not doing so well. The Reapers have been hitting it hard."

"Reapers?"

Cerine nodded. "Reapers. Giant sentient starships bent on destroying almost all organic life in the galaxy. I'm afraid you've chosen to visit our galaxy at a bad time. I guess you don' t have Reapers where you're from?"

"No. I was on Earth just days ago. I can say there were no Reapers. I think I may have travelled farther than I first thought."

"Yes, it would appear we both have many questions," she said. The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. She stepped into the hall and then glanced back at him. "I can help with that I think, but let's have the doctor look you over first."

She took him into a small room where another asari was waiting. She directed him to remove his jacket and torn shirt and lay down on a bed.

Daniel lay on the table, and stared at the ceiling. Cerine stood on one side of him, while the asari medic stood on the other. He grimaced as the medic poked and examined the burns on his chest.

"I appreciate it, but it isn't necessary. I've been burned before. It's not that bad."

"Typical human stubbornness," the medic said. "Are you a doctor?"

Daniel nodded. "I am actually, just not that kind."

"Then let me do my job. You say these came from a fire?" She asked as she studied the scans on her omnitool.

"Yeah. Power conduit exploded. I owe McKay for that."

"Well, Lt. Asil got the medi-gel applied quickly enough. You shouldn't have much scarring. She said you took quite a tumble though. Any other pains?"

"Nothing serious. Just some bruises, which I'm no stranger to I must admit."

The asari nodded. "Well, just take it easy for a couple of days."

"Thank you, Doctor," Cerine said. "Can I speak to him privately for a moment?"

The medic nodded politely as she left the room.

Daniel sat up and Asil handed him his shirt and jacket.

He slid his shirt on. "Cerine, I do appreciate the attention, and I would honestly love nothing better than to stay here and learn everything I can about asari, but I really have to get back. I was working with a friend. If I was injured, she could be too. Now, the gate you have out there matches the gate we found. Do you have any type of control device or console for it?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't think so. If we did it would most likely be stored here with it. We don't even know what the ring is, Daniel. But Dr. T'soni will be here soon. If anyone can help, it would be her. She's our foremost expert on ancient civilizations, or so I'm told."

Daniel's face brightened. "Wait. An archaeologist?"

"Yes, she is." Cerine said softly and tried to conceal her disappointment. This was the most fascinating thing that had ever happened to her, and she had the very real fear that Shepard and T'soni would be quick to cut her, a rookie lieutenant, out of the picture. "But while you will need her help, you need to be more concerned with Commander Shepard. She's the one who will decide whether to let you try to use that gate again. You'll have to convince her that you're not a threat. My commanders are concerned that you might be Cerberus."

Daniel arched an eyebrow. "I assume you're not talking about the three-headed dog."

Cerine stared at him curiously. "Umm, I'm not sure about dogs. Cerberus is a terrorist organization. A very powerful one at that. Human terrorists."

He looked her in the eyes. "Do you think I'm a terrorist, Cerine?"

She gave him a slight smile. "No, Daniel. You seem much too confused to be anything other than lost, but I've never met Shepard. I have no idea how much value she'll give my opinion. However, from what I hear Dr. T'soni and Shepard are quite… close. If you get Dr. T'soni on your side, you may not have anything to worry about."

"Well, if she's like me, she'll be thrilled to meet a fellow archaeologist."

"Oh, I thought you were a soldier. You dress like one."

"Let's say 50/50. I've certainly spent my fair share of time fighting, but it isn't my preference."

"I was born to be a commando." She pointed to the small insignia etched on the chest of her armor, her face beaming. "Recently promoted. I've been given my own squad, but we were assigned to guard the artifact. Not exactly the exciting assignment I was hoping for my first command, but you have livened things up. Now, it would help, if by the time Shepard shows up, we could have an idea of what is going on."

"I take it you have a suggestion."

She nodded. She knew Captain Jaris would probably disapprove, but she was running out of time. "I've never done this with a non-asari, but we have the ability to join. I can create a mental connection between us. It could help us both understand each other."

Daniel studied her for a moment. "Is it safe?"

"Of course," she replied with an air of confidence. "Asari often join with those from other species."

He nodded reluctantly. He needed to get back and to do that he needed to figure out what was going on. "What do I do?"

She motioned for him to stand, and then she stood directly in front of him. After removing her gloves she laid them on the table. She then reached up and lightly pressed her fingertips to each side of his face.

"Close your eyes and relax. We like to say 'embrace eternity.' You have to open your mind, Daniel."

He chuckled. "Not the first time I've heard that."

Cerine's eyes shifted to black and she focused on the feel of his skin and the flow of thoughts between them. There was a flood of color and sharp pains pierced her temples and she fell back with a cry. Daniel opened his eyes in a panic and looked at her. He grabbed her as she appeared like she was about to faint and lifted her up and laid her on the table.

"Cerine? Look at me," Daniel said softly. He pressed his fingers to her neck to feel for a pulse.

She looked at him and then closed her eyes, trying to block out the thoughts and images bombarding her mind, but it only made it worse. She took deep breaths, and she could hear his voice.

"I'm going to get the doctor," he said.

"No!" She grabbed his hand to stop him. "No, Daniel. I'm… it's ok."

"What happened? I just got a few quick glimpses of… is that what you call a Reaper?" There was a tinge of concern in his voice. He had seen something like that, a schematic.

She ignored the question, trying to focus on regaining her thoughts. "I've never experienced anything like that. Your world… your galaxy is so very different from mine, but it wasn't that. What are you?"

Daniel's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure…"

She sat up slowly and touched a hand to his forehead as if in wonder. "It was… overwhelming. There is so much memory, and so many thoughts that I see are hidden from you. Taken from you."

"Wait. You can see that?"

She nodded her head. "But only in the way a grain sand might see a wave rushing towards it. You don't belong here, Daniel. The Earth you call home is not our Earth. This is your galaxy, yet it isn't. You truly are lost."

Daniel sighed, the revelation wasn't particularly helpful, but Cerine did not look well.

Cerine pressed her hands to her temples and let out a deep breath. "I um… I need a moment alone. Please." She tapped on her omnitool and summoned Mileta.

Mileta came in a few moments later and was immediately taken aback. Her commanding officer was visibly shaken and rather pale. Her hand immediately went to her sidearm. "Lt. Are you alright?"

Cerine nodded. "Yes. Please take our guest back down to the gate."

"Yes, Lt.," Mileta replied, glaring at Daniel. "Commander Shepard will be here in ten minutes."

"Good. Good. That will give me time."

"Cerine?" Daniel asked uncertainly, clearly concerned.

"It's ok," she said and gave him a reassuring smile. "Please go with Mileta."

"This way," Mileta said bluntly and left the room.

Daniel hesitated for a moment but then followed Mileta out.

Cerine waited for the door to slide shut and then could no longer fight back the tears that began to roll down her cheeks. She buried her face in her hands and struggled to keep her eyes open. Every time she closed her eyes the space behind her eyelids was overwhelmed with bright light, then crushing darkness. She could feel the weight of it all so that her entire body ached.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Daniel sat in the corner, leaning against the wall. He practically had the new symbols on the gate memorized; studying them more would do him no good. They were completely foreign to him, and he could only hope that this archaeologist knew something about them. Those symbols were his key to getting home. Now, he was fighting a slight headache as his mind was still trying to filter through images. Images Cerine had given him. One of them in particular he was struggling to hold onto. It was another unusual feature of this gate apparently that the symbols on it lit up. He had a very vague and blurred memory of the gate, with some of the symbols lit up in blue. Cerine had seen the gate activate; she'd seen the symbols. If she or he could remember which symbols had been active when he came through, it would at least be a starting point. However, the images bothered him. He was having enough trouble sorting through the little bit he had gotten from her in their brief 'joining.' If she had truly tapped into the knowledge of the Ancients, he could scarcely imagine what that would do to her. Every moment that passed without her showing back up in the gateroom only deepened his concern.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the footsteps of Mileta. She kicked him, not too softly, in the foot and motioned with her rifle for him to stand.

"Shepard's here," she said. "If you are Cerberus, then I hope you've made peace with yourself. Shepard is a Council Spectre, and she will not hesitate to put you against the wall."

"Well, hopefully that can be avoided." Daniel stood up and looked at her. "As I told Cerine…"

"I don't care," Mileta interrupted with a shrug. "You have to convince Shepard not me. Consider yourself lucky you don't have to convince me."

"Is your Lt. alright?" he asked.

Mileta ignored the question and turned her back to him.

Two asari guarding the elevator snapped to attention when the elevator door slid open and three people stepped out.

Daniel studied them carefully. Apparently his chance to get home, and indeed his life, lay in their hands. From what he'd gathered, Shepard was human, so she was easy to pick out. She was certainly younger than what he'd expected, but she carried herself with a definite air of confidence and purpose. Her black armor bore the obvious signs of combat and had a red and white N7 insignia on the chest. He could only see one of her piercing green eyes through the strands of red hair that covered half of her face, but he could tell that her gaze never wavered from him. When she came closer he was taken aback by the small thin scars on her face seemed to have a reddish glow. Beside her walked another asari and a… he wasn't sure what. Was that a frog? A lizard?

Mileta stood straight and saluted as they approached. "Sgt. Mileta at your service, Spectre."

Shepard returned her salute. "At ease, Sgt. Where is, Lt. Asil?"

Mileta glared at Daniel. "She needed a moment. Should I go let her know you're here?"

Shepard nodded.

Mileta pulled out Daniel's sidearm and handed it to Shepard. "He says he's a doctor, but he was carrying this."

Liara and Mordin glanced at each other. "Many doctors carry weapons, Sgt.," Liara said.

"Of course," Mileta replied.

"Indeed. Reapers don't shoot themselves," Mordin said with a broad smile.

"More's the pity," Shepard said as she studied the weapon. "If you are Cerberus, then the Illusive Man has gotten tight with weapons funding. This weapon is 20th century era. Very curious." She then looked to Mileta. "Please, go get the Lt."

Mileta headed for the elevator. Shepard then turned to Daniel.

"I'm Commander Aerin Shepard of the Systems Alliance and Council Spectre," she gestured to the two people with her. "Dr. Liara T'soni and Dr. Mordin Solus."

"Pleasure to meet you. I seem to be in good and unusual company," Daniel said.

Shepard's eyebrow arched.

"I'm also a doctor. Daniel Jackson from Earth," he said and extended his hand.

Shepard shook his hand without hesitation as she looked him up and down. "Happy to meet you, Doctor Jackson." She pointed to the SGC patch on the arm of his jacket. "Military? I must admit I'm not familiar with that division, and your uniform is somewhat… antiquated."

"Yes and no. Kind've a long story," he said. "Yeah, so Lt. Asil has told me a little about the asari, but…," he gestured to Mordin, "umm, you are?"

"Dr. Mordin Solus, former STG, of Sur'Kesh. Salarian. Singer on occasion. Gilbert and Sullivan. Currently experiencing slight bouts of nausea due to miscalibration of inertial dampeners aboard ship."

"I told you I wasn't imagining it," Liara muttered to Shepard.

Shepard pressed her fingers to her temples and let out a deep breath.

"Unsure of what information you are requesting," Mordin said. "Can download personal biography to your omnitool. Need skilled proofreaders."

Daniel was silent for a moment as he tried to process Mordin. "Uh huh, no, that's… that's good. Umm, yeah, so I was told one of you is an archaeologist."

Shepard chuckled as she glanced at Liara. "I see her reputation precedes her. I've tried and tried, but I just can't get her to stop digging in the dirt."

Liara had a wistful smile. "Well… I used to be an archaeologist. Things are more complicated now."

"I'm also an archaeologist, and I'm hoping you know something about this ring."

"Archaeologist?" Liara pushed past Shepard as she began spouting off questions. "What do you know about the Protheans? Is this artifact related to them, or do you believe it predates them to one of the earlier civilizations? Even in the Council Archives there is no record of such a device. I've found no evidence that could link it to…"

Shepard gently elbowed Liara in the side. "I can only handle one Mordin, Liara."

Liara blushed. "Sorry. I haven't met a fellow archaeologist in a while, much less one that appeared out of thin air from an ancient artifact. Exciting would be an understatement."

Daniel cleared this throat to catch their attention again. "Sorry, but you mentioned a Council. Lt. Asil also mentioned that. What is the Council?"

Shepard gave him an odd look until she quickly realized his curiosity was sincere. "The Citadel Council is made up of representatives from some of the most powerful worlds and attempts to maintain law and order between the different factions in the galaxy. As a Spectre I serve as something of representative in the field. Thought right now I must admit they're proving to be relatively useless to me and a pain in the ass."

"Yes, Lt. Asil said there were some problems in this galaxy," Daniel said sympathetically. "I don't mean to take up your time."

Shepard gave a half-hearted smile. "Yes, 'problems.' Well, Doctor, I've only received a brief report on what is going on here." She pointed to the gate. "Lt. Asil said you came through an energy wave from this ring."

Daniel nodded. "That's correct."

Shepard approached the gate, staring at it. She then turned to Liara, the exhaustion apparent on her face was eased by a slight, but fleeting, hope. "Is it the Catalyst, Liara?"

Liara thought for a moment as she studied the large ring. "No, I don't believe so," she replied. She wished desperately she could have said otherwise when Shepard only responded with a heavy nod. "Our plans for the Crucible would indicate something much much larger, and this certainly does not appear to be of Prothean design."

"But if it could have some use against the Reapers…"

Daniel raised his hand. "Sorry, I'm still not completely clear on exactly what you're fighting, but it's not a weapon, Commander. We call it a stargate. It is able to create a stable wormhole to allow instantaneous travel between two gates."

"But there are no more of these rings known to exist. Even I had no idea it existed until a few days ago, and that's saying something," Liara interjected. "So, where is the gate you went through?"

"The gate I went through wasn't like the gates I'm used to. The symbols on that gate and this one are unknown to me. Based on what I've learned from Lt. Asil, I think I've crossed into a parallel universe."

Shepard, who had not sleep in twenty six hours, felt her patience slipping. "I'm sorry. Could you say that again?"

"Fascinating!" Mordin said, his eyes wide. "Wormhole generation? Parallel universe? Interdimensional travel? Precipitated by a collapse in space-time? Possibility of multiverse barriers breaking down? Enormous implications for science and our understanding."

"Mordin!" Shepard raised a hand to silence him. "So, you think it's possible? And what good does it do us?" She asked with uncertainty.

Mordin walked towards the gate. "Indeed. Not my area of specialty, only dabbled in it as a hobby but am familiar with multiple theories on the subject. Some theorize that infinite universes exist parallel to one another, never crossing. Infinite universes for infinite possibilities. Gates able to create a pathway that intersects two parallel universes? Symbols on the gate serve as coordinates? Represent specific location in space-time?"

"Yes, exactly!" Daniel said. "We have a device in which we input symbols like these on the gate. Those symbols correspond to other gates. However, their design is to link to other gates usually within the same galaxy, not to connect to another universe."

Mordin held up his omnitool as he began to scan the gate. "However, you say these symbols are different. Perhaps this gate specifically designed to cross into another universe? For what purpose? Escape? Research?"

"That's what I was trying to find out, before I went through the gate," Daniel explained.

Shepard studied the gate then looked back to Daniel. "Well, Doctor, it is a fascinating story, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't look for more solid evidence, but time is not in your favor."

"Cerine will vouch for me," Daniel said. "Right now, I need your help to get home."

"Lt. Asil cannot vouch for you," Mileta said. She had returned without their notice and drew her weapon on Daniel.

"What's the problem, Sgt.?" Shepard asked.

"He did something to the Lt.!"

Daniel raised his hands defensively. "Is she alright? What's wrong?"

"Don't feign ignorance! You did something. She won't wake up."

Shepard's eyes narrowed. "What happened with Lt. Asil?"

Daniel sighed. "She said she could 'join' with me. She said it would help her understand."

Liara frowned and walked up to him. "She entered your thoughts?"

Daniel nodded. "Something like that, but it seemed to overwhelm her."

"It's a damned Cerberus trick," Mileta hissed.

"Perhaps, but I don't think so Sgt. Doctor Jackson doesn't strike me as Cerberus," Shepard replied. She motioned for Mileta to lower her weapon. "Take us to Lt. Asil."

"Very well, Spectre," Mileta replied.

They followed her towards the elevator.

"You say you're from Earth?" Shepard asked as Daniel walked beside her.

"Yes. I work for the United States Airforce for the Stargate Program. We use the stargates to explore and to protect Earth from alien threats."

"United States?" Shepard asked quizzically. "Here the United States no longer exists, Doctor Jackson. It was absorbed into the United North American States nearly a century ago."

"Right. Commander, what year is this?"

"2186. Has your device sent you through time as well?"

"Umm yeah, it wouldn't be the first time. The gate has sent us through time before, though I don't recall ever travelling to a parallel universe through it. When I went through the gate on my end it was 2009."

"Well, your equipment would certainly back that up. If it's all a grand trick, then you've certainly gone to an impressive level of detail. I'm going to need a complete report from you, Dr. Jackson," Shepard said as they stepped into the elevator.

"I do appreciate your concerns, Commander Shepard, but you have to understand that my people may be in danger. I have to get back as quickly as possible."

"I do understand. As we stand here the entire galaxy is at war. Millions die every day and Earth is burning, but if you are who you say you are, then you might have information or knowledge that could help us. We have no knowledge of these stargates. I have to wonder what else might you know that could help us fight the Reapers."

"That's what concerns me. The gate I went through was on an outpost we stumbled across. Just before I went through the gate, I had accessed a database. What I saw makes me think the outpost was somehow related to these 'Reapers.'"

"If that's true, then perhaps we'll have to help each other."

A few moments later they entered the room where the medic was attending to Asil.

"What's her condition?" Liara asked.

"It's not a coma. She's just unconscious. She's showing an extremely high level of brain activity," the medic replied.

"Mileta's right. It could be my fault," Daniel said as he approached the bed.

"How?" Liara asked.

"It's a long story, but I have a lot of… suppressed memories. Suffice it to say I'm carrying around the knowledge of an ancient civilization in my head."

"Well, it appears we might have something in common then," Shepard said.

"Really? Well, this is more than a human mind can deal with, so it was buried in my subconscious to keep me from going insane or worse. Cerine was able to see it. If asari are similar to a human at all, then it could overwhelm her mind. It never occurred to me I was putting her in danger."

The medic shook her head. "I assure you that an asari mind is far more resilient than a human's."

"Enough! Shepard's mind has proven pretty damned resilient to Prothean beacons," Liara snapped at the medic. "The important thing now is helping Lt. Asil."

Daniel looked at Cerine. He could see the rapid movement of her eyes in twitching of her eyelids. He couldn't even begin to guess what she might have uncovered in his mind. "I might be able to help her, but not here."

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked suspiciously.

Daniel looked to Shepard. "If we can get her back to my people, then we have technology that can help clear the knowledge from her mind. Something like this has happened to one of my friends… more than once actually."

"We have no idea how to send you back, Doctor," Shepard replied.

"That's why we have to work together."

Shepard activated her omnitool and tapped a on it. She then pointed to one of the monitors on the wall. The monitor went to static for a moment and then a video feed appeared. Daniel could recognize it as London; he'd been there enough times. Giant machines walked among the skyscrapers. The city glowed with fire and smoke filled the sky.

"This is London just a few days ago. It's mostly rubble now I would guess. This is happening on dozens of worlds, Doctor Jackson, and more will follow. The Council and Alliance have tasked me to save the galaxy. You have my curiosity, but I'm afraid at the moment there are more pressing concerns. We'll find someone to study the gate. Once we know more about the gate and you, perhaps we can help."

"Solution already in progress," Mordin said, looking up from his omnitool triumphantly. "Latent programming in the gate is now active. Sizeable amount of data to process. Assume it is related to gate's recent activation. With this information, EDI and Dr. Jackson's assistance, it is possible we could develop a program to interface with the gate. Alien technology. Success not guaranteed."

"Mordin, you know that I need you with me on Tuchanka. The cure…"

"Twelve hours," Mordin replied.

Shepard regarded him suspiciously, especially given the succinctness of his statement. "You think you can figure it out in twelve hours?"

"Indeed. If not, little harm done. Genophage cure not going anywhere."

Shepard shook her head. "No, I have to disagree, Mordin." She pointed to the screen. "Twelve hours makes a hell of a difference. Palaven is dying waiting for the krogan, and I can't get the damn krogan until we get to Tuchanka."

"Commander…" Daniel began to plead.

"It's done, Doctor Jackson. We'll find an asari scientist to study the gate. It's the best I can do."

Liara surreptitiously motioned to Shepard and headed toward the exit.

Shepard sighed. "Excuse me for a minute, Doctor Jackson." She tried to ignore Mordin's knowing eyes that followed her out the door.

After Shepard and Liara stepped outside the door closed behind them.

"Did I miss something?" Daniel asked Mordin.

"Asari can be very persuasive. Particularly that one." Mordin smiled. "Think you are about to get the help you seek, Doctor Jackson."

Once the door had closed, Liara turned to face Shepard.

"Liara…," Shepard said with a heavy sigh. She knew what was coming.

"We should help him, Aerin."

Shepard crossed her arms. "While our people die? I have the weight of a galaxy on my shoulders, and now I have to worry about a parallel galaxy? Whatever that is."

"Every day you make hard choices. Inevitably people will die, no matter what choice you make."

"But I still make the best choices I can."

"I know you do, and I'm not saying your choice is wrong. I just think not helping him would be... an unfortunate missed opportunity."

Shepard laughed uneasily. "Right. I thought you were the one person who wouldn't second guess me."

Liara winced at that. Then she reached out and grabbed Shepard's hand. "Hey! I don't question you. If you say we go to Tuchanka right this second, then we go. I'm just asking you to think about it. If he is telling the truth…"

"That's a big if, Liara."

Liara nodded her agreement. "As is the Crucible."

"True enough." Shepard certainly couldn't deny that. The Crucible, given just its enormous size, was a huge gamble, but that was a small matter compared to the fact that they had no idea what it would actually do.

"But if it is true, it could change everything."

"Not necessarily for the better," Shepard reminded her.

"No reward without risk. Look at me. I was a big risk. Benezia's daughter. A naïve scientist 'digging in the dirt.' You took a chance trusting me, and I don't mean to brag," she said and gave a flirtatious grin, "but I think I'm quite the reward."

Shepard smiled and pressed her forehead against Liara's and closed her eyes. It was nice to be able close her eyes for just a moment; those moments were rarer and rarer. "Quite."

"And you're no small prize yourself," Liara said softly.

Shepard caved. "Alright. Alright." She turned away and went back into the room.

Mordin and Daniel looked to her expectantly.

"Very well, Mordin. You have six hours, starting now. If in six hours you haven't made what I deem to be sufficient progress, then we go." She then locked eyes with Daniel. "If that happens, you'll be coming with us Dr. Jackson."

"I'll see about getting us some equipment," Liara said.

"Will return to gate to continue my research," Mordin said excitedly.

"Thank you, Commander Shepard," Daniel said with obvious relief.

Shepard took Daniel by the arm and led him into a corner. "Don't thank me yet, Doctor. Lt. Asil isn't back with us yet, and I'm still not convinced. I need a clearer picture. Who the hell are you exactly and what led you to end up here?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

1 Hour Earlier – 2009 C.E. – Ancient Outpost - Pegasus Galaxy

Rodney McKay stared at his laptop screen and yawned. He'd been staring at it for hours and was beginning to feel that the text had permanently been burned into his eyes. They'd been at the Ancient outpost for nearly a day and had little to show for it. They'd uncovered its location in the archives of a recently discovered secret research lab on Atlantis. The lab had belonged to Janus, one of the Ancients' greatest scientists. Of course, his archives failed to note the facility's layout, size, or even purpose for being, but that hadn't mattered to McKay. If the outpost was related to Janus that meant anything could be there, and he had been more than a little eager to see it. As the hours dragged on his excitement had decidedly decreased. The outpost itself, besides the difficulty of accessing its secrets, did nothing to improve his mood. Unlike Atlantis, which was a sprawling city, the outpost was cramped and dark with stale air. The room McKay had made home, with its rows of monitors and consoles, was the closest thing they'd found so far to a control room or central database and was little bigger than a large closet. After hours of work McKay had had little luck in unlocking its secrets. He turned his head towards the door at the sound of footsteps.

"Morning, Sunshine," John Sheppard said with a bright smile, tossing him an apple.

McKay tried to catch it, but it bounced off his hand and landed on the floor. He let it roll away and turned back to his laptop. "It's not morning." He then glanced at Sheppard, an uncertain look on his face. "Is it?"

Sheppard nodded and leaned against the wall. "You better get a nap. Carter and Jackson will be here in a few hours to help out, and they'll be ready to get to work. You know how hard you are to work with when you're tired... or hungry… or thirsty… or stuck."

McKay scoffed. "I'm not stuck, and I don't need help." He started typing again on his laptop. "I just need… time. I'm close to a breakthrough."

"Really? Because when I left here…," Sheppard glanced at his watch, "…six hours ago you said some help would be nice."

McKay frowned. "Did I? Doesn't sound like me."

"You did," Sheppard assured him wryly.

McKay shrugged. "Huh, well no time for sleep then. You know, I do have to hand it to Janus."

"What's that?"

McKay clenched his fists. "He has a talent for making the most infuriating encryption system in the known universe," he said but then looked at Sheppard with a confident grin. "Fortunately, he didn't count on someone like Rodney McKay. McKay is at the top of his game."

"Uh huh. Let's not have this discussion again, Rodney."

"What are you babbling about?"

"The talk we had about referring to yourself in the third person. It's just… not healthy. Don't make us do another intervention."

"Geniuses often have quirks, and that wasn't an intervention! Ronan threatening to shoot me is not how you do an intervention," McKay countered.

"Right. So, Mr. Genius, is it safe to say that you still haven't the slightest idea what we're dealing with here?"

"It would be Dr. Genius, and I didn't say that," McKay said and gestured to his laptop. "It's obviously important, otherwise why go to all this trouble locking it away. Just finding the reference to this place in his database was a chore. And that stargate with the odd symbols obviously was meant for something."

Sheppard rolled his eyes and sighed. "Obviously. And what would that 'something' be?"

McKay waved him away. "Go away. I'm trying to work here."

"Well, whatever this place is, it's huge. Teams have been mapping it out, and it would seem that it's underground."

"Makes sense," McKay remarked. "The little planetary data we found in the database indicates the surface is barren and uninhabitable."

"So, we avoid the surface. Check. It looks like the lower levels in east wing, where that funny looking stargate is, were constructed much later than the rest of the facility."

"'Funny looking?' Is that the technical term?" McKay mocked.

Sheppard pointed at him and wagged his finger. "No jokes. Not until you can tell me what it does."

"I told you I'm working on it."

Sheppard pulled a datapad from his jacket and began glancing through reports. "North and south wing seem to go on for a ways, piled high to the ceiling with some sort of generators that are giving off a signal, and those two wings have major conduits that lead directly to the gateroom. That would be the normal gate, not the funny one. Zelenka and his team are trying to figure out what the signal is. They also found at least a couple of geo-thermal power rooms that are operating. Zelenka says most of the power seems to be going to those signal generators."

"Yes, yes, I get the hint. I'll add your mystery signal to the enormous pile of mysteries that I need to solve. We don't want Zelenka getting in over his head."

"He's figured out more about this place than you have," Sheppard teased.

McKay grunted. "Oh yes, figuring out what's keeping the lights on, that is a groudbreaking discovery. I'll recommend him for the Nobel Prize. Meanwhile I… I'm just working on an extremely complex ten thousand year old database that may contain research that will change the face of modern science."

"You are in rare form today. You really need to get some sleep, Rodney."

"Oh, if only I had time for something so pedestrian."

"Would it help if I told you we found three ZPMs?"

McKay perked up in his chair. "Really?"

"No, but you felt better for a second right? See, it's all about attitude, but unfortunately, we've found no room full of ZPMs yet," Sheppard lamented.

"A ZPM storage room would be nice for once," McKay admitted.

"How's it going guys?" Daniel asked as he entered the room.

McKay pushed his chair back from the table and turned to glare at Sheppard. "You said 'hours.'"

Sheppard grinned innocently and shrugged. "Did I? Sorry, my timing must be off. Well, Dr. Jackson, I know that Rodney is just dying to put your expertise to work. So, I'll go meet up with Carter. She's eager to see our new gate down on the lower level."

"Actually, if Rodney has things under control, I wouldn't mind taking a look at the gate first," Daniel said.

Rodney waved them on. "Yes, yes, go look at the gate. Go off and be fascinated by the shiny object. It'll give me some time to think to myself."

"Right, like you've been doing all night?" Sheppard asked.

McKay grabbed a datapad off the table and tossed it to Daniel. "There, if you really want to make yourself useful, you can have a look at that."

Daniel adjusted his glasses and scanned the datapad. "Another Janus encryption key?"

"Yeah, it's a specific section of the database. That encryption will unlock the files to tell us what those floors of generators are for and hopefully what signal they're putting off. At least I'm pretty confident that's what it is. You work on that, and I'll get to work unlocking the stargate."

"You sure you should be messing with a gate we don't know anything about?" Shepard asked skeptically.

"I'm not 'messing' with it," McKay countered, making air quotes with his fingers. "If I can unlock its functions then we can understand what it was designed to do."

"Don't blow up any star systems this time, McKay," Sheppard ordered.

"Not entirely my fault!" McKay shouted after them as they left the room.

Daniel followed Sheppard to an elevator where Samantha Carter met up with them.

"Colonel Carter," Sheppard saluted.

"Colonel Sheppard, good to see you again," Carter replied. She looked to Daniel. "Not helping out, McKay?"

Daniel held up the datapad. "He's a little grouchy, so I'm tele-commuting."

Carter chuckled. "Gotcha."

"You know McKay. He's grouchy under the best circumstances; add in now that he hasn't slept in nearly a day. He'll be a little better after he gets some sleep," Sheppard explained. "Come on, you two are going to love this."

They entered the elevator and Sheppard took them down. Daniel was thoroughly engrossed in the datapad.

"So, I hear you've been given a command," Sheppard said to Carter.

Carter beamed with pride and nodded. "Yeah, the George Hammond. Newest Daedalus class off the line. She is a fine ship. Does her name proud."

"I never really knew General Hammond, but it certainly seems none of us would probably be here now without him."

"You're not wrong. He was a damn fine leader," she said.

Sheppard sighed. "Yeah, we've both lost some damn fine leaders."

"John, you still can't be beating yourself up about Elizabeth."

"I'm not. Scout's honor," he protested.

She patted him on the shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. She knew the threat the replicators posed. She made her choice to help try and stop them."

"Yeah, I won't deny it's a good argument, Carter," he said. "But good arguments sometimes don't make much difference do they?"

She couldn't disagree with that.

The elevator finally stopped after going down five levels. The doors slid open and led directly into a large room with the stargate at the other end. Carter and Sheppard stepped out. They both turned when they realized Daniel was still in the elevator, tapping away on the datapad.

"Daniel?" Carter said.

Daniel looked up. "Sorry, I think I've got something. Rodney was close to cracking this. He just gave up a little too quickly."

"Yeah, better if you just tell him you solved it on your own. Now maybe you can solve this," Sheppard said, jerking this thumb in the direction of the gate.

The three of them walked down the room towards the gate. The walls and ceiling were cluttered with power conduits that all converged at a generator behind the gate.

"That looks like an awful lot of power they were pumping into that gate," Carter said.

"Yeah, so far the only power source we've found is some geo-thermal generators. We've also found halls full of things that look like generators, but Zelenka says they don't seem to be producing energy just an unknown signal."

"Do you recognize the symbols, Daniel?"

Daniel glanced at the gate and shook his head. "No, never seen them before anywhere."

"Daniel…"

He held up a hand. "Sorry, Sam. Please, give me just a minute."

Sheppard motioned to Carter. "Come on, there's some sort of control panel back on this wall."

Daniel continued reading and typing, then, suddenly, the encryption broke. He was in. He quickly began trying to sort through what he was seeing. Schematics of multiple ships he had never seen before appeared on the screen, diagrams of wavelengths, and designs for the generators he'd seen in other parts of the outpost."

"Sam?" Daniel called.

There was loud hum as the power conduits in the room suddenly came to life. Other displays around the one Carter was studying came on as the gate began to spin.

"What's going on?" Sheppard asked Carter as she began frantically going over the consoles and displays.

"I have no idea. We didn't do anything," Carter replied.

Sheppard tapped his earpiece. "Rodney, this is Sheppard. The gate down here is active."

"I know! I'm working on it."

Sheppard frowned and the frown was evident in his voice. "Did you do this, Rodney?"

"Just give me a minute, Sheppard."

Daniel glanced at the ceiling as a loud clang reverberated throughout the room.

Carter was rushing from display to display, more than a little concerned at the red warning messages that began to appear on them. "There's too much power in the conduits. They can't handle the strain," Carter said as she slid an earpiece on.

"Can you shut it down?" Sheppard asked.

"Trying but my Ancient isn't so good," she replied. "Daniel, I need you!"

"Rodney!" Sheppard shouted into his mic.

"I'm trying to shut down the power, but it's not working. You guys need to get out of there."

"If all of these conduits blow, it won't matter where we are, Rodney!" Carter shouted through her mic.

One of the conduits in the ceiling suddenly ruptured and a large section came crashing down to the floor in a hail of sparks and fire. The crash sent pieces of hot shrapnel flying out which caught Daniel in the chest and threw him to his back.

"Jackson!" Sheppard shouted as other conduits began to rupture, causing a fire and a acrid black smoke to spread throughout the room.

Daniel groaned and climbed to his feet, clutching his chest and beginning to cough from the smoke. The loud whoosh of the gate caught his attention. The fire was gaining on him. He glanced hurriedly around for the datapad, but it was either in the fire or smashed under debris.

"He's trapped!" Sheppard said as he scanned the room for some way to get around the fire.

"I'm close. Just get out of there!" McKay said.

"We can't get Daniel out," Carter replied. "Contact the Hammond. Have them beam Daniel out and tell them we need a fire crew beamed down here now!"

"They won't be able to beam him out of there. That area is too deep and shielded," McKay informed her. "I'm working on it."

The fire was fiercely hot, and Daniel knew it wasn't going to get better. Faced with the option of being burned alive, he rushed towards the gate. Another conduit exploded, the force of it propelling him through the event horizon.

"Jackson's gone through the gate!" Sheppard shouted.

"I've got the power under control!" McKay said. "You have to get out of there so I can activate the fire suppressant."

"But Daniel's gone through the gate," Carter replied.

"Sam, we'll get him back," McKay assured her, "but I need you guys out of there right now!"

The power conduits in the room went silent and the gate shut down.

Sheppard grabbed Carter by the arm and pulled her towards the elevator. "We've got to go, Sam."

Carter nodded and headed with him towards the elevator. As the elevator doors slid open, the unmistakable sound of the gate powering up as the chevrons began to lock stopped them dead in their tracks.


	4. Chapter 4

**7/13/15:** Please read update notes on chapter 1.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

Daniel watched EDI as she studied the gate. By now he knew she must have every last detail of it memorized, but she seemed fascinated by it. She reached out and rested a tentative hand on its surface.

"The amount of basecode in this device is…"

"Overwhelming?" Daniel said.

She cocked her head and dropped her hand from the gate, turning to face him. "No, I am not easily overwhelmed, Dr. Jackson. It is simply a significant amount of information to decode and process. It would seem crossing between universes is more complicated than x=y. And the device is ancient. Dr. Solus believes it could be as old as the relays. Millions of years… fascinating."

"That wouldn't be surprising," he replied.

Mordin had given up looking at the gate long ago and was deep in his own thoughts. He and EDI had studied the gate, scanned it countless times with their omnitools, and had some heated discussion about things Daniel couldn't begin to comprehend. But Mordin had withdrawn into his own thoughts and mumbled to himself as he paced back forth in front of the gate, often gesticulating wildly to accentuate his thoughts. "Transversal? No, no. Preposterous idea. Singularity inversion? No, insufficient energy source."

A computer they had setup and connected to the gate beeped loudly. A big splash of red letters in alien language flashed on the screen. Daniel couldn't read the language but in the many hours they'd been working he had quickly learned that it meant "simulation failed." EDI went to the computer and, quicker than should have been physically possible, entered a new set of parameters and restarted the simulation.

Daniel shook his head, frustrated. He had to get back to Pegasus, but Mordin had been pacing for two hours; not a good sign he guessed, and the beep followed by "simulation failed" had popped up more than twenty times in five hours. He glanced at Shepard, who Liara had coaxed into taking a nap in the corner. She'd left part of her omnitool lit up with the countdown for them. They only had twenty minutes left, and he did not believe she would find their progress to be significant, if anything things were going backwards. The more Mordin and EDI learned about the gate, the more they believed that reactivating it and ascertaining the coordinates to send him home would be a monumental task. He'd told them everything he could about the device, but the presence of the alien symbols only complicated things. Liara had spent the entire time on a computer terminal in the corner. If she was having more luck than the salarian and android, she wasn't sharing.

Daniel and EDI turned to the sound of the elevator door sliding open. Lt. Asil emerged, somewhat slowly. This was the first time they'd seen her since they'd left the medic's office, and, though she looked exhausted, her condition seemed much improved. She walked towards Daniel, taking slow, deliberate steps and he approached her, meeting her halfway. He reached out and clasped her upper arm for fear that she would fall over.

She greeted him with a pained but reassuring smile. Her sapphire blue eyes were watery, as if she was on the verge of tears, but she steeled herself against them.

"I'm glad to see you up. I'm… sorry about that," he said, releasing his grip on her arm. "Are you ok?"

She nodded uncertainly and took a deep breath to steady herself. "I think so. I'm still not quite myself. The doctor prescribed me some mental blockers. It's dulled the memories, calmed the headaches, and, unfortunately, messing up my biotics, but I can walk… somewhat. Feel like I'm moving as gracefully as a three-legged elcor."

"Well, I'm guessing that's a bad thing." Daniel chuckled. "But it's a start."

"Just don't ask me to fight any reapers for a few days," she joked. "Any luck here?"

He shook his head and glanced over his shoulder at the gate. "Not much I'm afraid. I can't fault Dr. Solus or EDI. They're obviously geniuses, and they seem to already know more about the gate than I do, but I know from experience it's a complex technology. This isn't going to be easy."

"Your experience," she said with a disbelieving shake of her head. "Your experience is beyond anything I could imagine, Daniel. The few images I processed before my mind nearly collapsed in on itself were… breathtaking and quite terrifying."

He shrugged. "I wish I could remember, but I know it's maybe better that I don't."

"Maybe so."

There was a moment of silence between them before she spoke again. "So, you say it takes two of these gates to function?"

He nodded affirmatively. "A stable wormhole is generated between two gates."

"The one you came through in your universe. Surely your friends will come looking for you?" she suggested. "You seem nice, and not at all… Cerberusy."

Daniel laughed. "Cerberusy?"

She straightened her shoulders, though it sent a stabbing pain straight between her temples. "I stand by my made up word, Dr.," she said with a mocked tone of authority.

"Well," Daniel said with an equally affected air of diplomacy, "this is your home planet, so I will defer to your judgment and accept that I am not 'Cerberusy.'"

"Smart choice, I'm terribly stubborn."

"Ah, now stubbornness. That is something I have a bit of experience with."

"Anyway, I would think your friends are missing you and would come after you. I certainly hope if I vanished through an energy wave that my commandos would come after me."

"I think Sgt. Mileta would be after you in a heartbeat. She seems quite loyal to you. I was starting to worry she might just shoot me."

She nodded knowingly. "She's good soldier, if a tad excitable."

"Well, I'm sure my friends would like to come after me, but there was that explosion at the facility that forced me through the gate. They're either injured or don't have the power to reactive the gate on their end, or they would have already done so. While it will be helpful if they manage to reestablish a connection, it won't immediately fix the issue of me being stuck here."

She arched an inquisitive eyebrow.

"You can only enter the wormhole through the gate from which it originates. If I'm to get home, we have to be able to activate this gate."

"That does indeed complicate things," she replied.

"Of course!" Mordin shouted, smacking his hands together in excitement. "Knew it was familiar. Liara! Liara! Quickly, quickly. Extranet. STG Library. Mission Archives. Level 4. Will need my security clearance."

They were all taken aback by his sudden outburst and regarded him curiously, though it was not loud enough to awaken Shepard, but Liara didn't miss a beat, instantly switching over to the extranet and typing as he spoke.

"I have my own code to the archive, Mordin," she said innocently. "What am I looking for?"

"Information on planet Kitara – Operation Firebrand."

Liara's brow furrowed as she struggled to place the name, quickly though she realized she'd never heard of it. "What is Kitara?"

Mordin took a deep breath and then released it in a long, rapid spiel. "Kitara is no longer. Destroyed by STG during rachni wars. Massive breeding planet for rachni. Salarian scientists incorrectly calculated that destruction of Kitara would decrease rachni war capacity by nearly fifteen percent. Bad math, got it wrong! Beside the point! Covert STG and turian team deployed to Kitara to carry out mission. None survived but mission was successful."

Liara's eyes grew wide. She couldn't believe what Mordin had just said, yet she knew he was not one to make a mistake. "Mordin… a joint turian/salarian mission during the Rachni War? That would have been centuries before the turians entered Council Space."

Mordin smiled, a glint of mischief in his large black eyes. "Indeed. Good story to that. Will come back to it. Important thing is planet was destroyed by destabilizing core."

"Impressive. How did they destabilize the core?" she asked. Liara was bursting with curiosity and could barely contain it. If it was true, if the salarians had contact with the turians centuries earlier than was known, it would be an enormous revelation. Still, she knew they had to stay on track for now at least.

"Salarian brilliance! Details are few however. STG captain, Tiraki, sent small classified databurst to STG command before planet was destroyed. Once on Kitara, team realized that original plan presented too high rate of failure. But team discovered that planet had been inhabited before the rachni. Remnants of a civilization with advanced technology. Civilization destroyed by rachni." Mordin pointed to the gate. "Tiraki described discovery of a similar device! Discovered its function and modified it to destabilize the planetary core."

EDI looked to Daniel. "Dr. Jackson, do you believe the stargate could be used in such a way?"

Daniel considered it and finally nodded. "The stargate is a powerful piece of technology, and I've seen it on multiple occasions do things it was not designed to do. We've seen it destabilize a star before. So, it's theoretically possible."

"Dr. Solus, how does this help us?" Cerine ventured, eager to get re-involved.

Mordin blinked twice, taken aback by the question. "Not obvious?"

Cerine glanced at the others, who appeared just as uncertain as her as to what Mordin was driving at. "No, Doctor. I'm sorry…"

Mordin blinked again. "Now we can begin search!"

Cerine glanced sidelong at Daniel and shrugged, mouthing silently, "Search for what?"

Mordin continued, unfazed. "We stand on shoulders of Protheans. Protheans stand on shoulders of those who came before and so on. The eternal question!"

"Which is?" Daniel asked.

"Who came before us? If all the great civilizations of the past eons have developed their technology from the ones who came before them, then where does it stop?" Liara chimed in.

"You believe the gates predate the Protheans?" Cerine asked, skeptically. She wasn't fluent in history, but she knew enough to know the Protheans were ancient and that there was very little knowledge of those who came before them.

"Without doubt," Mordin affirmed. "May predate relays themselves. Perhaps relays based on their design?"

"I believe Dr. Solus is suggesting there are too many similarities between that gate and mass relays to dismiss a connection between them out of hand," EDI said. "Perhaps, these Kitarans created the stargates."

"Do you believe the reapers stole the gate technology from the Kitarans and engineered the relays?" Liara asked.

"Perhaps. It would make stargates hundreds of millions if not billions of years old," Mordin explained. "Could explain their rarity. Lost and destroyed over eons, or destroyed by reapers to cover tracks. Unlikely odds that only two gates ever existed: Thessia and Kitara. If only the two gates, then must be connection between the two worlds. More likely that the ancient civilization used gates to travel throughout the galaxy."

"Exactly!" Daniel said.

"So the Kitarans built our gates then?" Cerine asked.

"No, I don't think so," Liara replied, the archaeologist in her taking over. "The mass relays are for all intents and purposes timeless, and the stargates, as Mordin says, perhaps even older. The Kitarans' destruction is relatively recent. I would have a hard time believing that those who built these stargates were wiped out by the rachni only 2,000 years ago. If they were advanced enough to build the stargates, then the reapers wouldn't have spared them for so long, especially if the reapers stole the stargate technology from them. They wouldn't leave witnesses or that kind of knowledge behind."

"But the similarities between the two? If the Kitarans didn't build them… Surely the fact that they had a working gate," Cerine pressed.

"Whether built by Kitarans or not," Mordin explained, "obvious that Kitarans had the means on their world to activate the stargate. It was used to destroy their planet."

"We don't know that. All you've told us, Mordin, is that the Tiraki and his team found a gate and learned its function. We have no way of knowing if the Kitarans knew what the gate was or how to use it. Tiraki may have just gotten lucky," Liara explained.

"True," Daniel replied, "but unlikely. I think it more likely than Tiraki found information on Kitara that helped him use the gate."

She chewed her lip for a moment as she considered it. "Perhaps the Kitarans didn't build the gate, however it is certainly possible they found the gate on their world, just as we did, and were able to make it work."

"But how did one end up on Thessia?" Cerine asked.

"Who knows?" Liara said, somewhat wistfully. "As old as they appear to be, there could be any number of ways. There's currently no knowing who made them or for what exact purpose."

"Well, in my universe, the gate builders built hundreds, thousands of gates throughout our galaxy. We simply found the gate and learned how to use it."

"If that's the case, if there were so many, then the reapers have done a near perfect job of erasing their existence," Liara lamented.

"But, we know where to begin search. Could lead us to the builders or at least technology to use the gates," Mordin reemphasized.

"Who built them is perhaps less important at the moment, because if Kitara was destroyed, where would you suggest we begin searching, Dr. Solus?" Daniel pressed. "I do appreciate everyone's help here, but I have to get back home. My friends… my world is in danger."

"If Kitarans could use the gates, and they function as Dr. Jackson suggests, then unlikely that they were concentrated on a single world. Perhaps there are more Kitarans. Kitarans who escaped rachni."

"How would we find them?" Cerine asked.

"Ask those that destroyed them," Mordin answered simply.

"The STG?" Cerine asked, confused.

Mordin shook his head vehemently and corrected her. "STG orchestrators of Kitara's final destruction but not the cause. Not the cause!"

Liara frowned. "No, he means the rachni. We talk to the rachni. Shepard's not going to like any of this."

"Rachni owe Shepard," Mordin said definitively.

Liara couldn't stifle a chuckle. "Well, let's hope they share your opinion, Mordin."

"Wait!" Cerine said, snapping her fingers. She turned to Daniel, her face a mask of excitement. "In your galaxy, there is a stargate on Earth?"

Daniel nodded. "We had two actually… long story."

Liara caught onto Cerine's thought. "Where were they located?"

"Antarctica and Egypt."

"It's a start, Dr. T'soni. A possibility," Cerine said.

"Earth is a complete warzone. And there's no guarantee we'd find anything. Just because Dr. Jackson's Earth had a gate doesn't mean ours will."

"But what are the odds?" EDI asked. "As of now we have two choices. We seek out the rachni in hope of finding the Kitarans, who may be long extinct, or we seek out gates on Earth that might not exist."

"We have no choices," Liara reminded her. "We follow Shepard."

The buzzer on Shepard's omnitool went off. In one swift instant she was awake and then getting to her feet while simultaneously shutting off the alarm. She yawned and stretched her arms, and then noticed everyone staring at her.

"Yes?" she said, mid-yawn.

Cerine pushed Daniel aside and approached Shepard, stumbling as she did so and having to throw out a hand to grab the edge of Liara's computer station to steady herself. "I would like to volunteer, Spectre Shepard."

Shepard regarded her curiously and looked to Liara for an explanation, though Liara merely shrugged. "Firstly, you can hardly stand, Lt. Secondly, volunteer for?"

Daniel tried to interject something, but he wasn't quite sure what to say. What the hell is a rachni anyway?

Cerine blushed. "Umm," she turned to Mordin with a pleading glance and then back to Shepard, "to assist Dr. Solus with his search."

"Tsk. Tsk," Mordin replied with a grim look. "Foolish to volunteer to travel beyond the rachni relay. Even more foolish to go to Earth. Admire bravery though. Unable to conduct search myself. Prior commitments to Commander Shepard. Believe search should be carried out though. Stargate technology is promising. Should not be abandoned readily and would like Dr. Jackson to be able to return home."

Shepard held up a hand to silence them. "Mordin, start from the beginning. Tell me everything you've learned but please make it quick."

Mordin smiled broadly and nodded. He then turned to Liara at her computer terminal. "Liara, please begin with report on Operation Firebrand. Very exciting!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Update 11/27/2015:** After some mixed feedback, I've gone back to the drawing board a bit on this. I've completely rewritten Chapter 5 which originally detailed "Operation Firebrand." I'm taking things in a completely different direction than originally planned, so let me know what you think. Chapter 5 skips a lot of content but I promise it will all come back around.

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Daniel stared out across the burning horizon from the fifth floor of a ruined skyscraper. Though the building had once towered into the sky, now only five floors remained, even the ceiling and most of the walls on this floor were gone. The ruin of London stretched out all around him. Columns of thick black smoke snaked into the sky, while buildings jutted from the ground like so many shattered bones. The sun was just vanishing at the edge of the world, giving the western sky a brilliant violet hue that contrasted sharply with the orange and black that consumed the city. Artillery barrages from the ground added flashes to sky, while hundreds of Alliance shuttles flew into the city, as fragile as birds against the Reaper fire. There was an ethereal beauty to it all – a landscape of nightmares and dreams – accentuated by the acute roar of the colossal Reapers that had laid siege to the old city and the sounds of renewed war as London had just become ground zero for an intergalactic war. The archaeologist and historian in him couldn't help but muse, what would Nelson or Churchill have done against such an enemy as this? No doubt fought to the bitter end as these brave soldiers were doing. In all his years of fighting the Goa'Uld and then the Ori, this is what they had always feared and somehow miraculously avoided. This Earth could easily have been his own. He couldn't let it end like this. The Reapers were a threat that transcended universal boundaries and allegiances. Despite everything happening around him, he couldn't help but smile. Today, with any luck, he would see his friends again. The past five months had been nothing short of intense, and he could not wait to return to the familiarity of home.

He turned at the sound of footsteps; Cerine approached him. She returned his uneasy smile as she came to his side and followed his gaze out to the horizon.

"Are you alright?"

His eyes narrowed. "It's not my Earth, but…"

"It is, and it hurts."

"Yes," he admitted with a heavy sigh.

"They are not of your galaxy, but they are your people. How did Liara say it?"

He recalled the moment when they understood that sending him home was possible, but that it would take much longer than he wanted. Liara consoled him that nothing could change that, but he could help change what was happening here. "'We will get you home, but first you will fight with us. You will fight for them, because you know their songs. You can recite their stories, because they are yours.'"

"I don't want to let them down."

Cerine smiled encouragingly and reached over and clasped his armored hand with her own. "We won't, Daniel. Shepard has put a lot of faith in us, and she seems to rarely be wrong. You have certainly impressed her… all of us."

Daniel nodded. "You haven't done so bad yourself."

She looked up at him. "We've made a good team – you and I. While it pains me to leave while our worlds burn, knowing what we hope to accomplish, and that we'll be doing it together reassures me that it is right."

Daniel turned to Cerine. Her dark blue armor was scarred and blackened and streaks of dirt covered her face. She noticed him staring and grinned as he leaned in to kiss her. Her arms encircled his neck and they pressed as close as their armor would allow.

Her mouth wrinkled and she pulled back from the kiss with a stifled laugh.

"What was that about?" he asked.

She pressed a finger to his lips. "I can tell you haven't been wearing your helmet enough. Your lips have the slight taste of ash. It's all in the air."

"I'm still not used to helmets, especially this fancy one Shepard gave me with the hud. Takes some getting used to."

"And as I keep reminding you, it can't protect that pretty head of yours if it's retracted," she countered.

"Quick screw before the next battle?" Wrex interrupted with a gravelly chuckle as he emerged from the stairwell. "If that's how you two get ready for war then you've got more krogan in you than I thought."

Cerine quickly broke the embrace, her face flushed. She murmured an apology to which Wrex only smiled. Facing down a Reaper was certainly a challenge, but compared to this she'd take the Reaper. Things with Daniel were still new, and she had not yet quite figured out how to handle it.

"We were just saying goodbye," Daniel said, trying to deflect attention away from her embarrassment. "This may very well not work."

"'Confidence, Dr. Jackson.' I bet a pijak's ass that's what Mordin would say," Wrex replied, then his face darkened. "Though I'd have a damn sight more of that if he were here with us. He was a tough old bastard."

Daniel nodded. The loss of Mordin just a couple of weeks ago on Tuchanka had hit them all hard. "I have no doubt in Mordin's research, just in our ability to implement it correctly. One decimal in the wrong place and we end up… I have no idea where."

"Well, that tin can with the nice ass seems to know what she's doing," Wrex said.

"EDI, Wrex. Her name Is EDI," Cerine said with a roll of her eyes, having shrugged off her momentary embarrassment.

Wrex shrugged his massive shoulders. "Device is nearly ready." Wrex's omnitool began to beep.

"Wrex, this is Liara. We have failed to reach the conduit," her garbled voice came through Wrex's radio. The sounds of gunfire and shouting filled the background. "We're implementing Plan B immediately."

"Shepard was dead set against Plan B, Liara," Wrex argued. "Did she authorize this?"

Liara was silent a moment and all they heard was the gunfire before she spoke again. "She's dying, Wrex. She took nearly a direct hit from Harbinger. I'm getting her out of here. We're coming to you. Be ready!"

"You keep her alive, Liara!" Wrex snapped and shut off the omnitool. He snarled and walked up to the nearest wall. He began slamming his fist into it. "Cannot," punch, "catch," punch, "one," punch, "fucking break!" With the final two words he slammed his forehead against the wall and Daniel and Cerine feared the whole thing would topple over.

"Wrex!" Cerine shouted. "We have to go now. Get us to the stargate."

Wrex grunted and nodded affirmatively. "Leave it to me. My clan will get you to the gate."

* * *

"McKay, hold that suppressant. We've got an incoming wormhole," Sheppard said into his earpiece.

"Is it Jackson?" McKay asked.

"Don't know yet," he replied.

Carter held her breath as the last chevron on the stargate locked and the energy wave came flying out, vaporizing some of the debris that had fallen from the ceiling. From their vantage point in the elevator, much of the stargate was obscured by black smoke, however, her eyes went wide when she caught a momentary glimpse of two great seven foot tall armored hulks emerging from the gate.

"Did you see that?" Sheppard asked, trying to blink away the irritation in his eyes caused by the smoke.

"I'm not sure," Carter replied.

The armored figures approached the fire and began spraying out a suppressant from the built-in extinguishers into the arms of their armor suits.

Carter whispered into her earpiece. "McKay, get a security team ready up top. We appear to have some company. They're putting the fire out. Can you use the vents to clear some of this smoke?"

"I believe I can reroute some airflow," he offered.

A third armored figure, much shorter and thinner – human-sized and female judging by the armor contours - emerged from the gate. The smoke was now beginning to clear, and they could see one of the hulks turned and waved her on into the room. The other hulk began to clear the heavy debris from in front of the gate, with little effort. The woman activated an orange hologram on her left forearm, seconds later people began to pour through the gate, most of them armored, and many appearing to be seriously injured.

One of the soldiers came out of the gate in a full run, and immediately headed straight toward the back of the room without hesitation, waving to Carter and Sheppard. A suit of black armor and a helmet hid all features.

Sheppard began to step out of the elevator and Carter grabbed his arm to pull him back.

"What are you doing, John?"

"Bad guys don't wave right? The Wraith certainly don't wave. So, I'm just going to say hello. They look like they could use some help. Just want to show them we're friendly."

Carter nodded and followed him out of the elevator. The armored figure slowed down and approached them, holstering the rifle on his back. The orange hologram appeared around his forearm and he tapped on it, causing his helmet to begin disassembling and retracting back into the collar of his suit of armor.

Carter smiled and Sheppard cocked his head curiously.

"You guys miss me?" Daniel asked.

Carter's face could not hide her surprise. "Daniel… um… what the hell is this?" Clearly, this was not the same person who had left just five minutes ago. He bore some new, ableit minor, scars on his left check, his face was covered in soot, and his hair could definitely stand a wash, but there was something different in his face, in his eyes. He had been through something harrowing but had come out stronger.

Daniel nodded. "That is a great question, but for now, I need your help. I've got a lot of wounded with me. I need you to contact the Hammond and Atlantis. We need every medic and doctor you can spare, and we need to start getting people up that elevator."

The third soldier who had exited the gate joined them hesitantly. From the armor, she had appeared to be a human female, but as her helmet likewise retracted, they were stunned by her blue skin and sapphire-colored eyes.

Daniel motioned to her. "Guys, this is my… friend, Lt. Cerine Asil."

Carter caught slight hesitation in Daniel's introduction, only adding to her confusion and curiosity.

She extended her hand, which Sheppard was quick to accept.

"Welcome to Pegasus," he said with a roguish grin.

"Thank you," she said. Her omnitool crackled with static and a voice came on. "This is Liara T'soni. Come in Astria."

"This is Astria squad," Cerine replied. "Our transport was successful."

"Shepard?" she asked hesitantly.

"Secure and alive."

"Well done, Lt. I've taken personal command of Veric squad."

Cerine's lips pursed and her checks flushed with anger. "You're not coming?"

"No," Liara replied. "Veric squad was being overrun. I joined them to buy you more time. Securing Shepard's evac is the highest priority. This won't work without her."

"When she finds out we left you behind…"

"She will understand," Liara cut her off. "But tell her I completely expect her to come back and rescue me. That should provide her the motivation to get her ass out of bed."

"Wrex isn't coming either," she informed her.

"Then I'm placing you in charge unti Shepard recovers," Liara informed her.

Liara was not military, and the group that came through the gate was human, salarian, asari and more – she technically had no authority over any of them, but Cerine nor anyone else would question anything that came from her.

"She needs you, Liara," Cerine said simply. She knew that would sting, but she was desparate. Most of Shepard's crew was on the Normandy or elsewhere. Only Liara and Vakarian had gone with Shepard to the conduit, and Wrex had stayed back to help guard the stargate at Shepard's request, but once Shepard was safely through Wrex had refused to join them. He'd said his place was in the fight – he would carry on in Shepard's name. Shepard herself was unconscious and on the verge of death. Now if Liara wasn't coming, that left her, Lt. Cerine Asil, in charge of a rag-tag outfit stuck in an alternate universe – it was not the sort of command she had always envisioned.

Liara however was not swayed. "I have to go, Cerine. We can't hold the chokepoint much longer. I estimate we'll be overrun in less than five minutes. Half of the squad is seriously injured, but we'll hold them back as long as possible if you need more time."

Daniel and Cerine both glanced back toward the gate quickly to see that already nearly two dozen people had come through.

"Negative," Cerine replied. "Recommend you proceed to your evac point. Let Hackett know that we made it through. Tell them…," her voice began to shake and she took a moment to draw a breath, "tell them we will be back. Shepard will see this ended. We all will."

"Acknowledged," she said. "Transmitting last minute orders to your omnitool. Proceeding with gate shutdown. Good luck, Cerine. Take care of her for me."

Cerine's omnitool powered down and she stood there silent for a moment.

"Are you alright, Cerine?" Daniel asked.

Holstering her rifle, she nodded. "That crazy pureblood put me in charge. Knew she wasn't right in the head."

"They're not your commandos, but these people trust you," Daniel said. "And you know that."

"Right then. Let's get to work." She jerked her head back at the wounded. "Sgt. Vakarian says we've got to get Shepard into surgery now or she won't make it. If she doesn't make it, then neither does my home."

Daniel nodded and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Go get her ready, we'll get her up top first."

He looked back to Carter. "We need a doctor by the time we get up top."

Sheppard and Carter didn't question him further. Sheppard tapped his earpiece. "Rodney, contact Atlantis and let them know we have a medical emergency. We need them prepped for at least twenty wounded. We've got people who will need emergency surgery."

"Who the hell are you talking about?" McKay asked.

"Daniel's back and he brought friends."

Daniel turned and headed back towards the Stargate, motioning for the two of them to follow. He weaved among the wounded straight to where Cerine and Sgt. Vakarian, a turian combat medic, were kneeling next to Shepard who was lying on a stretcher.

Daniel looked to Carter and Sheppard. "She's Aerin Shepard, and I wouldn't be back here or even alive without her help."

When Carter and Sheppard saw her they shared a grim sidelong glance at each other. They knew, whoever she was, she would not survive. She was covered in blood, most of her armor was gone and some parts that remained appeared to be fused to her skin. Her auburn red hair stood out in stark contrast to the cold pallor of her face. The only glimmer of hope was that she didn't appear to have any head injuries.

The turian was applying some sort of gel to her wounds with a marked speed and determination and simultaneously scanning with her omnitool. "My knowledge of human physiology is limited! I was pulled for the Battle of Earth before I completed my exobiology training."

"You're doing fine, Kaeta," Cerine assured the young turian.

She shook her head vigorously. "No, she's dying. I'm not my brother. I can't save the damned galaxy nor even one fucking person it seems!"

Cerine leaned in close to Kaeta and whispered. "You're a turian. Keep it together and keep Shepard alive. You can do this, Sgt. Am I clear?"

Kaeta nodded. "We have to get her to a doctor. Her implants and the medi-gel are helping keep her alive, but they're being overworked. Her cybernetics will completely fail if we can't stabilize her."

Daniel grabbed an end of the stretcher and nodded at Carter to grab the other end.

Carter knelt down to Daniel's level. "Daniel, she won't make it."

"Like hell," Daniel replied simply which brought a smile out of Cerine. "Let's go, Sam."

Carter grabbed the other end and gently they lifted her off the ground and began their way towards the elevator. Sgt. Vakarian followed alongside, continuing to apply medi-gel. They passed another medic helping the other wounded.

"You, salarian," she said, pointing a finger at the medic. "I need you on triage. Prioritize who needs to go up the elevator first." The salarian nodded and saluted her.

"Ummm, Sheppard," Daniel began tentatively, "I need a favor."

"You got it, Jackson."

"Yeah, I wouldn't have agreed so quickly. I need you to contact your wraith friend."

Sheppard smirked. "Why do people keep saying that? We're not friends."

"Well, I'm afraid we're going to need his help," Daniel lamented. "Trust me I don't like it, but I don't think we have a choice."

Sheppard grimaced. "Yeah, fine. We get back to Atlantis, and I'll see what I can do."

By the time they reached the elevator, they already had a train of organized patients, several on stretchers lining up behind them; the salarian was taking his new task seriously.

"John, why don't you work with that medic. See if you can get an idea of the injuries we're dealing with. Relay to McKay so he can help the medteams get prepped."

"I'm on it. You should speak to Woolsey directly and let him know what's going on." Sheppard said. He tapped his earpiece as the elevator doors closed. "McKay, we got the first group of wounded heading up. Go ahead and dial up Atlantis and let them know we're going to start sending people through. Inform Dr. Keller that the Hammond's medics will focus on the minor wounded here, but we'll be sending the worst straight through the gate."

"I've had them dialed up for the past few minutes. Carson was in doing some work on project with Jennifer, so she's pulled him in."

"That's great. They're going to need all the help."

"Woolsey wants a full report from you ASAP," Rodney informed him, with some small amount of mirth.

Sheppard groaned.

"Yeah, that's the reaction I expected. That's for lying to me this morning about Jackson and Carter."

"Tell Woolsey I'm working with the wounded, and I'll check in as soon as I can. Something is going on here. Jackson says we need to bring in Todd."

"What? Your wraith friend?"

Sheppard clenched his fist. "I swear to God, McKay!" He stopped and took a deep breath. "Forget it. We have work to do. Have a couple of medics come down when the elevator unloads and send Ronin and Teyla with them. There's some…," Sheppard glanced at the two armored hulks, "sketchy looking tank-like aliens down here."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Jennifer Keller was bored. She stared at her laptop screen as she slowly massaged her temples. It had been something of a slow week, and today was no better as she sat in the med lab going over the month's inventory report. She needed her request for supply restocks to go through soon. Now, this was the great conundrum of her profession – being bored was supposed to be a good thing. To want excitement meant wanting someone to get sick or injured. Certainly, she didn't want that, but she couldn't deny she wanted an indefinable _something_ to happen.

Then the noise began, softly at first. She cocked her head and squinted her eyes, trying to focus on it. It grew louder, intruding into the med lab. Then she smiled – Carson was whistling. Again.

"Good morning, lass," he said as he entered the room and patted her shoulder. "It's quite the lovely day outside."

"Is it? I've been trapped at this workstation all morning."

"Oh, aye," he said, grabbing a lab coat from a rack in the corner. "Started my morning off with some fishing off the east pier. Just grand if I do say so myself."

She shut her laptop and spun her chair around – anything was better than spending another minute on inventory reports. Carson's fishing story was not the "something" she'd been secretly hoping for, but it was still something. "Did you catch anything?" she asked, trying her best to sound enthused.

He didn't buy her enthusiasm, but he couldn't help but appreciate the effort. A broad grin spread across his face and he took a seat on the edge of her table. "Indeed I did." He spread his hands about a foot apart. "Now, imagine to yourself a fish with four blue eyes. Green scales like emeralds, and I dare say eight fins."

"Sounds like quite the catch. Don't let the zoologists see it, or they'll be demanding to dissect it," she said with a laugh.

He nodded in agreement. "Aye, it was too beautiful an animal so I tossed it back."

"A true sportsman, Carson."

His face brightened as a brilliant idea caught his mind. "You and Rodney should join me next time. You don't get out of this lab nearly enough, and Rodney is… well Rodney."

She grinned resting her chin on her palm. "Just the three of us?" Her grin turned mischievous.

"Well, Sheppard's certainly welcome. Invite who you like. The more the merrier I always say," he said.

"You wouldn't want me to invite Dr. Porter?"

Carson blushed and pushed up off the table. "You can invite whoever you bloody well like. Do you think I'm the type of man who goes around telling people who they can and can't invite? Scotland takes pride in its hospitality I'll have you know."

She raised her hands in mock defense. "I wasn't implying otherwise. I was just saying…"

"No, no. I… I know what you're saying. Throwing around these wild implications," he said, quite flustered.

She nodded as he spoke, trying not to laugh. "Right. Wow. Umm, you've got it bad, Carson. You should umm… try to control that."

He sighed and shrugged. "You're telling me. Do you think I can blame that on the cloning?"

She covered her mouth to stifle her chuckle. "Sure, sure. If that's not a good excuse I'm not sure what is."

He nodded and turned his back, heading to a nearby computer station where his experiment had been running all night.

"But you worry too much," Keller said. "She thinks you're adorable."

Stopping in his tracks, he turned around. "She mentioned me?"

She glanced at the ceiling sheepishly. "I might have brought you up over lunch the other day. Possibly. It's so… you know it's so hard to remember. This month has been," she clenched her fists to drive the point home, "_so_ busy. You know, maybe it was Teyla."

"Jennifer…"

"Dr. Keller," Woolsey's voice over the med lab intercom made her jump with a start.

She shook her head. "Yes, Mr. Woolsey?"

"We have an off world medical emergency – it's Sheppard's team. Please have your staff start prepping, and I need you in the gate room immediately."

She and Carson shared a knowing glance. "On my way," she replied. She leapt from her chair with a mixture of controlled panic, adrenaline-fueled excitement, and a small amount of shame to balance her excitement. "Carson, you feel like taking a trip?"

"Just say the word, missy."

"Get a response team together and head on up to the control room," she said, grabbing her coat as she headed for the door. Then she shouted over her shoulder, "and if you think we're done discussing Alison, you are sadly mistaken."

Keller rushed down the hallway towards the Atlantis control room, careening around corners, and throwing a few polite elbows where needed. Woolsey had been vague. "Medical emergency – it's Sheppard's team." That was it – no more details. What if McKay was hurt or finally had succeeded in blowing himself up with some strange alien device he shouldn't have been messing with? These thoughts raced through her mind.

She felt some small relief as she was entering the control room. The gate was active and Mckay's voice was coming through the radio.

Woolsey appeared at least slightly annoyed, standing beside the console, currently being manned by Chuck, with his arms crossed. "Who are they, Dr. McKay?" Woolsey insisted.

Keller could tell from his tone that that was probably at least the third time Woolsey had asked that question.

"I've just told you," McKay replied with annoyance. "This is one of those rare instances where you know almost exactly as much as I do. You should go mark it on the calendar."

"Now, is not the time, Dr. McKay. I need to know more. You have no idea who you are about to send through that gate," Woolsey countered. "Where's Colonel Sheppard?"

"Carter asked him to stay down in the lower gateroom with our… guests. He's helping get things organized. You know, being a boyscout. Look, Sheppard, Carter, and Jackson all seem to be in agreement on this. If these… people don't get help, some of them will die, Woolsey."

That last statement caught her attention and she impatiently stepped closer to the console. "What's this about?" she asked.

Woolsey held up his hand, motioning her to hold on for a moment, which made lips twitch and her face burn, as he finished his conversation with McKay. "Alright, Dr. McKay, you've made your point. We'll have everything ready. However, would you please inform Colonel Sheppard again that I need to speak with him as soon as possible." He turned to Keller. "Dr. Keller is here now."

"What's going on, Rodney? What's your status?"

"I'm really not sure," he replied helplessly. "They're just giving me tidbits. Sheppard says we may have as many as twenty wounded. Some of them are critical."

"What happened? Who is injured?"

"I don't know, Jen. All I know is it's none of our people. There was an accident and Dr. Jackson had to use the Stargate. Five minutes later he comes back through the gate apparently with a tribe of wounded in tow."

"Do you know the nature of their injuries?"

"Yeah, hold on. I've got Sheppard on the other end filling me on some of the details," Rodney said. He was silent for a few moments. "Ok, I've got some more from Shepard. There are currently four critically injured in the elevator on the way up. They should be heading through the gate in the next five minutes or so. Shepard says the Hammond's medics will deal with the minor wounded, but they're sending the serious ones straight through the gate to you."

"How many is that?"

"He says besides the four injured on the elevator he has twenty-one people with him in the gateroom. There are two critically injured still in the gateroom and nine seriously injured. Hold on one second, Jen."

There was a clank over the radio as Rodney removed his earpiece and tossed it on the table. Woosley and Keller glanced at each other as they could hear McKay arguing in the background. After about thirty seconds he came back on.

"Alright," he said with a sarcastic chuckle, "Sheppard says you need to prepare your staff… and let me be clear I have no idea how one prepares for this, but you need to be prepared to treat aliens."

She glanced questioningly at Woolsey. "Aliens? Are there wraith?" she replied in shock.

"Not wraith. I don't know what. Sheppard says besides the humans, he can see at least four distinct alien species in his group. And some of them are apparently… kinda big."

"How the hell do I treat someone whose physiology I have no experience with?"

"That's what I told Sheppard, but he says the group has a couple of medics with them that will be able to help," McKay tried reassure her. "He says their injuries are combat-related. Now, he says not to get confused, but one of the patients is named Shepard."

"I think I can cope with two people having the same last name, Rodney," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger. Hold on a second," he said and pulled off his earpiece again.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Woolsey said.

As they stood there, they caught random bits of Rodney's conversation through his discarded earpiece that only strengthened Woolsey's unease. "What do you mean there's a robot… ok, why is the robot angry… violating its mission parameters… just tell it to shut up or I'll come down there and rewrite its mission parameters… sentient... are you serious.. fine fine… Ok, Sheppard, I said fine."

The radio crackled as Rodney snapped his earpiece back on. "Ok, Sheppard says you might want to have a security team ready just in case. Tensions are running a little high."

"Did you say something about a robot, Dr. McKay?" Woolsey asked.

"Yeah, that's just something," McKay replied offhandedly.

From her spot in the control room she could see Beckett and his team prepping down on the main floor to go through the gate.

"Dr. McKay," Woolsey interrupted, "Dr. Beckett's team is ready, so we need to cut this conversation short. Shut down your gate, and we'll send the doctor through to assist in getting the wounded back here and to assess the situation."

"Don't forget the security team on standby. Just in case," Rodney suggested.

"I've got every security team on standby, Dr. McKay. Let's hope Sheppard knows what he's doing."

* * *

The elevator began its several minute ascent up the shaft. The elevator was barely deep enough to accommodate the stretcher with Daniel and Carter at each end of it. So Daniel found himself with his back pressed hard against the rear wall while Carter's face was mere inches from being crushed against the doors. Two other critically wounded – a human male and a quarian female lay on stretchers on the floor. Cerine was supporting a third, Sgt. Mileta, who could barely walk, while Kaeta continued to try to stabilize Shepard. The sound of wheezing breath – lungs filling with blood – permeated the small room.

"Without T'soni this is going to be a lot more difficult," she said to Daniel.

Daniel couldn't disagree. "I know, but we have Mordin's research, the dialing program, and all the prothean data we could get our hands on."

"Daniel," Carter said trying to interrupt as politely as possible, "we have a few minutes until we get up top. Can you please give me the short version?"

Daniel let out a sigh and couldn't help but smile. "Short version. Right. Umm… alternate universe."

"Janus actually designed a gate to travel to alternate universes? The science behind that must be incredible."

"Well, yes and no. He didn't design it alone."

"Who helped him?" she asked curiously.

"That information is a little sketchy, and part of the longer version of this story."

"A little bit of time seems to have passed for you."

"Unfortunately the gate I came out of did not have any sort of control device. It took us months to create a dialing program and uncover the right coordinates for us to come back to the moment just after I left."

"Months? How long have you been gone?"

"Just over five months, give or take," he replied.

"What was all that about asking the wraith for help?"

"A long story. In the alternate universe the entire galaxy is under attack by an advanced race of hyper-intelligent starships… more or less."

"The Reapers," Cerine chimed in. "Every 50,000 years they come in and wipe out all the advanced civilizations."

"Oh my God. So, something like the wraith," Carter said in disbelief.

"Maybe, but very different motivations. Trust me," Daniel said, "it's worse than it sounds. I just came from Earth. It's a smoldering husk."

"Well, we're glad you're back."

"Unfortunately, I didn't come back with good news," he said apologetically. "This is all just the beginning. I believe the Reapers, or some form them, exist in our universe. This facility all ties into this somehow. I believe our Ancients found a way to destroy the Reapers or at least drive them back. We need to figure out how, so we can help my new friends save their galaxy."

Cerine's omnitool radio crackled. "This is Lt. Asil."

"Lt., this is Medic Ithos," the salarian said. "Cronos is… agitated."

Cerine's brow furrowed. "Define 'agitated.'"

"He says he was sent here by Legion specifically to help Shepard, but he logically cannot help Shepard if he is not with Shepard," Ithos explained. "Being in this room is violating his mission parameters. He does have some minor damage, and I believe being separated from the geth network is… affecting him."

"Cronos has always been a little odd… for a geth," Cerine conceded. "Assure him that he will return to normal mission parameters shortly. Tell him… tell him that he can help Shepard by helping the wounded. She will need them able to fight with her when we return to Earth."

"Affirmative. I will attempt your solution."

She then looked at Daniel and Carter who were watching her closely and gave a weak smile. "The joys of a new command."

Carter smiled to herself knowingly. It hadn't been _that_ many years since she'd been given her own first command, and now she had just stepped into a brand new and quite different one. She tried to focus on those thoughts and not the burning fire that was traveling up the muscles in her arms. It wasn't that Shepard was overly heavy, but the difficult position of being forced right against the door made it nearly impossible for her to move or adjust her position.

The elevator finally, mercifully came to a stop and the doors slid open. Dr. Beckett was already waiting right outside the entrance with half a dozen gurneys and an equal number of nurses and medics.

"Alright, we're up. Let's get these patients loaded and back to Atlantis stat," Carson ordered.

"This one is the most critical," Kaeta said as they came out of the elevator with Shepard. "She's lost a lot of blood and has extensive burns. She was knocked at least 10 meters and has internal bleeding. Her cybernetics are overheating due to the strain."

Beckett was momentarily taken aback by the turian. The doctor in him quickly pushed curiosity side and focused on the patient. "Bloody hell. I certainly hope there are none worse than this," he replied and assisted one of the nurses in sliding her onto the gurney.

Cerine came quickly out of the elevator, nearly dragging Mileta. She quickly hoisted her loyal commando onto one of the gurneys and rushed to Carson, who was already at work on Shepard, and grabbed his arm, not too gently. Carson was taken aback, by yet another alien, but also by the determination in her tired face. "Doctor, this one cannot die."

"If I have anything to do with it, none of them can, lass," he replied.

Cerine shook her head and tightened her grip. "You don't understand. If she dies… trillions go with her." Her voice, even her blue eyes, became pleading, "you have to keep her alive."

"Then perhaps, you'd best let me get to work," he said simply.

She nodded and released his arm.

Carson looked to Sgt. Vakarian. "You said cybernetics? I need you to come with me young lady. Sounds like Dr. Keller may need you on this one."

She turned to Cerine for confirmation.

Cerine nodded. "You're assigned to Shepard for the time being, Sgt. Do not let her out of your sight until you see me again."

They immediately began wheeling her out of the room to the stargate as the nurse started an iv. Neither Carson nor the nurse questioned the turian as she continued to apply medi-gel.

"I'll see her to the gate and then be back to work on the others," Carson shouted back at them.

"Daniel, you should go with her. I need to stay here to watch over our people. I want to be here to reassure them as they come up," Cerine suggested.

Daniel nodded and followed them out of the room.

Cerine turned to see Carter and the other nurses getting the rest loaded onto the remaining gurneys. She smiled, for the first time that day, and suddenly felt there was hope again.

* * *

The brilliant ribbons of blue energy enveloped the Aurora-class ship as it rushed through hyperspace. On the bridge, Elizabeth paced back and forth, musing over the events of the past half hour. The soft blue glow filtering through the windows provided an ethereal quality to the room. Her people were in danger. _Her people_. She smiled at the thought. The replicators were here people, despite there being less than a dozen of them, and she was afraid for their safety; she was still adjusting to the preposterousness of the idea. Nevertheless, they looked to her for protection and guidance, and she would do her best not to let them down, but it wasn't just them. Atlantis was in danger. Indeed, she feared the entire Pegasus galaxy was in peril. She knew that Oberoth had survived the destruction of Asuras, and he would stop at nothing to exact revenge them and on every last human in galaxy.

Toran studied the results on the screen. This was the fourth time he had scanned and the results were conclusive. "If this is accurate, then we have a problem," he said.

Niera looked up from her console on the other side of the bridge and turned around in her chair. "What is it?"

"All traces of the Aelsa Wave are completely gone."

Elizabeth stopped her pacing. Toran was young, and now he was afraid and such a thing was a completely foreign experience to him.

Niera jumped from her seat and rushed past Elizabeth over to him. "What do you mean gone? You said it was just decreasing in intensity."

"It was! I've run four separate scans. In the first scan the strength of the wave in this sector had decreased by 20%. It grew weaker in subsequent scans and in the fourth it is now completely gone."

"Could it be a problem with the sensors?" Elizabeth asked, though she knew the answer.

Niera nodded. "Possibly. Toran, run a diagnostic on all the systems. There may be a problem with the sensor array."

He shook his head vehemently. "There's no problem with the sensors. It is simply gone!" he snapped and gave an insincere chuckle. "The Aelsa Wave is dead…"

"And us along with it," Niera said, completing his thought.

Elizabeth clasped her hands behind her back and turned towards them. "Perhaps," she said, "Oberoth got what he wanted. If he managed to find the last relay…"

Niera scoffed and shook her head. "Not likely. He searched for the location for years. If he had discovered it, he would've destroyed it. And with the destruction of Asuras the potential for him to find it would be statistically insignificant."

"Does the reason matter at this point? Something has happened," he argued.

"Could we repair one of the damaged relays?" Niera asked.

It was Toran's turn to scoff as he spun back around to face his console. "Oberoth made sure any Aelsa relay that was discovered was obliterated from existence, and he eliminated any data that might allow us to construct a new one."

"We need help with this," Elizabeth said and took a seat in her captain's chair. "I'm taking us to Atlantis. Call it a hunch… but I think they're involved in this. We always had knack for getting into trouble in the most unexpected places."

Toran and Niera both turned to her. "We don't know where it is," they said in comical unison.

"No." Elizabeth gave them a cryptic smile. "But I do, and fortunately, Atlantis also has a knack for getting out of trouble in unexpected ways."


	7. Chapter 7

This chapter is a little shorter, but it's been so long since I updated, I wanted to go ahead and push something out. Next chapter we should be heading back to Atlantis for some excitement!

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

Lt. Sinclair O'Shea either had the worst luck in the world or the best; he wasn't quite sure which at the moment. He'd been pulled from his squad by no less than Shepard herself to take part in the assault to reach Citadel transport beam. She'd seen the N7 mark on his armor (which he'd earned only a month ago), told him she needed an engineer, and that was that. Certainly being hand-picked by Shepard was an honor, even if it was for one of the most suicidal missions in military history. However, he had come away from it without a scratch, much better than most of the people in the room, and certainly better than everyone left behind on Earth. _Damn luck of the Irish,_ he thought to himself. His armor was still covered in Shepard's blood from where he had carried her himself to the stargate, where he'd handed her off to the medics. He'd never had any intention of going through the damn thing, he wanted to stay and fight, but Lt. Asil had ordered him through. Of course, he had to wonder to himself why he listened to her, she certainly wasn't his commander, but her tone had left little room for argument.

A glowing blue sphere, hovering just above his shoulder, spoke. "What is our current status, Sinc?"

"That's a great question, Tax," he replied as he scanned the room. Lt. Asil had just headed up in the elevator with Shepard. "I may be an engineer, but I've no clue how this stargate works or where exactly it's brought us. Lt. Asil and Dr. T'soni didn't exactly have time to fill me in on the details."

"My scans indicate we passed through a wormhole," Tax said.

"Bloody hell," he grunted. "Well, let's get to work. I'm no medic, but I've got some field training that could be put to good use about now."

"I believe Lt. Asil has placed all medical issues under the command of that salarian," Tax said and, hoping to be helpful, shot a narrow blue light in the salarian's direction.

"Right then," he said and headed over to the salarian.

The salarian, Medic Ithos, was kneeling next to a human soldier and applying medi-gel, and, based on his wild gesticulations, he appeared to be arguing with the geth standing near him that had been part of Shepard's team. A black-haired man in a uniform he didn't recognize was standing next to them, appearing more than a little confused by the exchange taking place between Ithos and geth.

"Cronos, Lt. Asil says that you should help the wounded. Shepard is going to need their help when we try to retake the Citadel," Ithos said, staring down the geth.

"That task does fall within my mission parameters," the geth replied.

"Perfect!" Ithos huffed. "You can start by distributing some water from the supply packs to the wounded."

Cronos cocked his head oddly as he processed the information and then went to fulfill his new mission.

"Salarian…," Sinc began.

The salarian raised his hand to silence him. "I have been called 'salarian' once already, and as Lt. Asil was in hurry, I did not mind it. You, however, are not in a hurry, Lt., and I do have a name. It's Ithos."

Sinc raised his hands defensively. "No offense meant, Doc. I'm uninjured. How can I help?"

Ithos groaned and shook his head derisively. "Help? What help? I've just given the geth an assignment. Can no one in this room do anything without explicit instructions?"

Sinc and Sheppard shared a bemused glance, with Sheppard just offering a shrug. "Just trying to help, Doc."

Ithos released a heavy breath and stood up to face him. "Ithos. Ithos. Not 'salarian.' Not 'doc.' If you can't remember my name, how do you think you could be of any assistance? Are you even a medic?"

"I've met your alien counterpart, McKay," Sheppard muttered into his earpiece.

"Not as such. Emergency field training." Sinc cracked a grin. "I know which end the medi-gel comes out."

The salarian sighed, unamused, and pointed to the black-haired man. "Colonel John Sheppard." When he saw the Lt.'s face light up, he quickly added, "no relation!"

The two shared a firm handshake.

"Apparently, his people are hosting us," Ithos continued. "He wants an update on my patients to forward on to their medics topside. I don't have time, must treat. As I scan patients, will auto-forward my reports to your omnitool. You pass the information to Colonel Sheppard, so that he can relay it to his people."

Sinc nodded and clapped his hands together with a soldierly enthusiasm. "Anything to help."

Tax turned his eye on Sinc. "I believe he just asked you to be his administrative assistant."

"Not inaccurate," Ithos conceded as he stood up. "Though your qualifications for that designation are questionable. This patient is stable, but she will need surgery for a shattered femur. I will move on to the next. Please make sure that Colonel Sheppard gets the information he needs."

Sheppard tapped his earpiece and relayed the information to McKay.

Sinc faced Sheppard, again studying his unusual uniform and the patches on his arm.

Sheppard was equally curious about Sinc's suit of black armor. The young man couldn't be older than twenty-five, but he had the eyes and bearing of someone that seen fierce combat. His red hair, green eyes, and accent certainly would have Sheppard guess he was from Ireland, but given his armor and alien companions, it certainly wasn't any Ireland that Sheppard knew.

Sinc thumped this chest. "Lt. Sinclair O'Shea of the Systems Alliance. Friends called me Sinc." He jerked a thumb at the blue sphere. "That's Tax. My second pair of eyes and my best friend.

"Technically, I am his second eye, as I do not possess a pair. Though my single eye can track with much greater quickness and clarity than a set of human eyes. In this case one is better than two."

Sheppard wasn't sure whether to laugh. "Did it just make a joke?"

"He tires, but his delivery isn't always the best. However, he is the best damn combat drone in the Alliance."

"Though I have been programmed to be humble, statistical analysis of Alliance records forces me to agree with that assessment," Tax said, almost cheerfully.

"Don't show off, Tax," Sinc chided with a smirk.

"Well, I'm Colonel John Sheppard," he replied, studying the glowing drone.

Sinc's brow furrowed, and he pointed to the patch on Sheppard's shoulder. "That's an American flag, innit? The good old U.S. of A?"

Sheppard arched a curious eyebrow. "Indeed it is. You seem surprised."

He shrugged in response. "Don't see those much anymore. My parents have a big one hanging in the living room back in Galway, or they did before this whole bloody mess. My great granddad brought it with him when he came back to Ireland."

"Now, see I thought you were Irish," Sheppard chuckled.

Sinc laughed and gave a slight bow. "Yeah, the red hair and accent are kind of a dead giveaway."

"Your great grandfather was American?"

"Nah, he was going to university. Then you Americans had to go and have 'another damned secession war,' or that's how he liked to tell it. He was in New York the day they blew the Statue of Liberty."

Sheppard frowned and held his hand up. "Whoa. Wait a minute. Someone blew up the Statue of Liberty?"

Sinc nodded affirmatively. "Damn shame. Anyway, he actually joined up. Put in a couple of years in the fight against the secessionists. It's his war stories that made me want to join the Alliance. After what I've seen though," he let out a big sigh and shook his head, "I'll be quite pleased to get back to the family business. Settle down to some peace and quiet."

"Yeah, I know that feeling. What's the family business?" Sheppard asked.

He grinned and chuckled. "Beer of course. Family owns a small independent brewery. We got a special license from Guinness. Produce it for turians and quarians. It's a niche market, but it was going good."

"I'm not quite sure what half of that means, but I do like the part about beer," Sheppard replied.

Sinc's omnitool beeped and he activated the hologram around his arm.

Sheppard let out a whistle. "Now, that is cool. You get music on that thing?"

Sinc shrugged. "Standard omnitool, though this one does have some of my own special modifications, not to mention my collection of Fornax mags."

"Fornax?" Sheppard questioned.

"I just get it for the articles, mate," he said and slapped Sheppard on the shoulder. "Oh, got a couple of reports here. Two so far are going to need surgery – internal bleeding – but are stable enough for the moment."

Sheppard tapped his earpiece and relayed the information to McKay, and then questioned Sinc. "Yeah, so where the hell are you guys from?"

"Ha, I was just about to ask 'where the hell are we?' Not County Galway to be sure!"

"What the fuck?" The angry shout echoed throughout the room and drew the curious attention of Sheppard and Sinc, not to mention the many wounded. The salarian glanced up anxiously from the patient he was treating, and even the two krogan, upon realizing the source of the exclamation, relocated themselves closer to the elevator.

Sinc knew the voice. "Oh bloody hell. She's awake," he muttered and rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "You got any tranquilizers, Sheppard? Preferably the instant kind."

"Who's awake?" Sheppard asked and then saw the woman who had shouted stand up. "Ah, that is… interesting." He cocked his head inquisitively as a tattoo covered woman in a black leather jack and green combat pants approached, semi-hopping on one leg.

"Where the hell is this, Lt.? Where's Shepard?"

"I'm not sure."

An angry flush rose to her face and Sinc raised his hands defensively and took a step back. "No, I know where Shepard is. She's fine. She's fine. Well, she's hurt, I'm just not sure where _we_ are." He motioned to Colonel Sheppard. "This Colonel John Sheppard. No relation I'm told. But maybe he could answer your question."

"Well, someone had damn well better have some answers," she said, pushing a finger against Sinc's chest, which caused her to slightly lose her balance and fall against him. He deftly grabbed her around the waist.

"Don't get ahead of yourself there, soldier," she said. "Cute though, very cute."

"I'll admit… that frightens me a bit," Sinc replied with a gulp.

"Even better," she smirked as she pushed away from him and regained her balance on her one good leg. She pointed to her right forearm where a broken bone was punching through the skin. "Forget that I can hardly walk. This… fucking hurts. Can we do something about that, Lt.?"

Sinc nodded and started to give a confused salute, until he saw Jack's eyes narrow, and he stopped his arm in mid-air. "I… hmm… medi-gel."

Jack nodded. "Good boy, Sinc. Medi-gel," she said with a snort.

He quickly began to apply the medi-gel to her arm, drawing a muttered stream of curses from his patient.

She looked to Sheppard and rolled her eyes. "You… the other Sheppard, apparently. Another boy scout. Cute haircut," she said.

"Umm, thanks, and you are?"

"Jack. Just call me Jack," she said.

"Done here," Sinc said matter-of-factly and knelt down to take a look at her leg.

"You can just call me John," he replied.

"I prefer boy scout but have it your way," she replied. "Where's my… damn it, Sinc," she snapped. He had pulled out his knife and was attempting to cut her boot off. "I like it rough, but slow the hell down!"

"Yes, m 'am," he replied and returned to her boot with renewed focus.

"Lt.!" Ithos shouted from across the room. "You're falling behind on those reports!"

"Just not your day," Jack said with an impish grin and patted him on the head with her good arm, and then realizing it made balancing easier, grabbed a handful of his red hair and held on.

"Your support is truly touching," Sinc joked with a grimace.

"As is yours," she said, tightening her grip on his hair.

"I would recommend scissors," Tax offered. "Attempting to remove the boot with a knife is inefficient."

"Not you too, buddy," Sinc replied and glanced at his omni-tool. "You ready for the next report Shepard?"

"To hell with reports. Someone needs to get me to Shepard," Jack said.

"Jack, you're just…"

"Just what, Lt.?" She scowled and tightened her grip on his hair even further.

He grunted with pain and then steeled himself and began sliding her boot off. "You're going to have wait. There's nothing you can do for Shepard at this moment. So bloody relax and let me see if I can't patch up this leg."

"You got a set, kid. I'll give you that. Last person who told me to wait got plastered against the wall. Course that was Cerberus."

"Like to think I rate a bit above those bastards," Sinc said.

"Jury's still out."

"Well, it looks like the elevator is about back down. I'm going to help get some of these people loaded," Sheppard said. "Once we get everyone back to Atlantis, we can start figuring out what the hell is going on here."

"Atlantis? Damn… you mean the sunken city? Where the hell did that asari send us?"

"Can't be any worse than where we were," Sinc said.

"Never truer words, Sinc," she said, and eased up just a bit on her grip of his hair.

He smiled as he continued his work on her leg. This day was taking strange turns.


End file.
